Convergence of Hearts

We spent Labor Day weekend in my hometown with family, my relatives, going to old haunts. Riding bikes along the Columbia River we rounded Columbia Point, across the confluence of the Yakima we enjoyed the colors and textures of grasses, cat tails, sage, trees and the ever present wind. We stopped in the riverside park where a folk festival was happening, Tumbleweed Festival. We discovered that some friends were playing so we got to enjoy their good swing, folksy and Celtic music, along with the wind.

From there we drove down the river, stopping 15 miles east of Portland to see a new installation work by Maya Lin. Maya Lin, you may recall is the artist/architect who designed the Viet Nam War memorial in Washington D.C. We pulled off I-84 at the Lewis and Clark Park into a earthy parking lot at the Sandy River. Turned out to be land cared for by the Nature Conservancy. At the confluence of the Columbia and Sandy Rivers we walked across the alluvial delta where many dogs brought their humans to walk, and run. At the end of the trail we came to the installation, the Bird Blind, a cylinder of vertical oak 2x4s, with names of various species found during the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803-06. Presumably taken from the naturalist field notes of Meriwether Lewis engraved in the 2x4s were species/names of birds and animals and indications if they are threatened, endangered or extinct since then. Roosevelt Elk, black tail deer, gray wolf, red fox, polecat (skunk), bald eagle, winter wren, loon, and many more.

It was impressive to think of all the beautiful birds and animals they found over 200 years ago when the expedition traversed the continent. The raw beauty they found. The civilization that followed has drastically changed all that. That was just the beginning of the American empire. Manifest destiny it was called, wherever we could manifest our will and destiny would be ours. Perhaps those days are coming to an end, as witnessed in Viet Nam, now Iraq and Afghanistan.

Remember that line from John Lennon’s song, “Imagine”, which became somewhat of an anthem for people who long for peace around the world. The second verse suggests we, “imagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do, nothin’ to kill or die for, no religion too…” Can we? Can we really hold that thought? Imagine no countries and no religions, that inform us on the necessity to fight, destroy and even eliminate entire peoples who differ from us. Can we do that? Power struggles carried out in the name of religion and nationalism have been so destructive and wasteful during my lifetime, let alone over the past two centuries.

We of European stock nearly wiped out the indigenous peoples of this continent, in our holocaust, when we stormed in to take it over. And those people who survived were called Indians and labeled as savages, not recognizing their spiritual and cultural values so we could justify treating them less than dogs and penning them up in “reservations”.

We cannot change the past. But we can change the present and how we hold the past and how we intend to co-create the future, one day at a time. We can recognize and take responsibility for the mistakes we have made and get on with it. We can let it be, as another great song we sing suggests. We can clean up our act. Personally and collectively.

And we can offer up our highest and best intentions as a prayer to each other and the Divine Mind, to unify our minds and hearts as one. This is the time. This is the day, this is the hour. 9-9-09. We can join in Unity World Day of Prayer 9-10-09 and pray for peace, healing, justice and equality for all. It’s Good to be Alive!