We Are Missing Something

     Before I get started today I want to give you a quote from Miles Olsens' book "Unlearn, Rewild" this is an excerpt from the conclusion, it reads as follows. "Everyone knows that in any relationship, if there is a conflict that doesn't get dealt with, if someone is upset but doesn't speak up, things don't get better- they simmer and stew and get worse. If we don't stop and deal with our problems as they arise, making changes and course corrections while we go along, things are going to get more and more difficult until just existing in a miserable lie is too much to handle." He then goes on to write, "The myth of progress tells a story in which everything that came before this moment is useless and obsolete, while everything that comes after will be better."

     This morning before I drove my daughter to school and my wife to work I had an opportunity to walk with my son to his bus stop. The air was fresh and cold for our standards, five degrees below zero, centigrade. A crystalline frost coated the rooftops and gardens in our little neighbourhood. As we approached the roadway, busy with commuter traffic, an eagle began to sing out to the morning sun, or perhaps in salutation to the waning crescent moon that was still bright in the cool dawn sky. My son was in tune with the natural elements as was I. There was enough to be learned from these natural beings that I began to wonder why we are so infatuated with the built environment, the "human construct". The eagle soared above us in the direction of my son's school "why can't I ride him to school Dad?" pondered my son, "Can you summon the eagle?" I respond, answering a question with a question, not thinking that in his mind he probably already did. Children have this superpower, an animal instinct that has been lost in most adults. As he boarded the school bus I knew deep down that he was flying with that eagle today and that eagle will provide him with the spirit he needs to get through his school day. It will because I can't. Today I too must fly.
     My flight is both literal and metaphorical. I'm going away for a job, to contribute to the broken wheel that is modernity. This incessant, grinding machine that robs men of their wild selves, reducing them to hopeless shadows, soullessly dragging their haggard bodies to the trough for the next paycheck. I will play by their rules and give my time, the most valuable thing I possess, to them. To the machine that I despise. The centrifuge of debt. This is my nest, my bed, and in it I will lay. For how long who knows. The choices we make as youth, and while we mature sometimes take time to pay off, perhaps that's how we gain appreciation for the true cost of our actions. I used to be bitter about my debt, resentful to myself for being so "stupid". I have grown to accept it, to learn from it. This doesn't mean I am happy about it. What it does mean is I have to dig in deeper, mining more time, the time my younger self stole from me, without really knowing. Through this turmoil I will teach. Teach the children to retain their wild selves, to lash out against those who wish to tame them. They still have that chance. I haven't lost all hope at least not for them. Unfortunately there are those who cannot be saved. They will sacrifice their lives to the machine, lost souls are difficult to retrieve. I will fly. I will fight and I will make our lives better but not for the sake of progress, at least not the kind of progress that they advertise on tv. Not for the cars, the fake tans and billboard charts. I will fly so they can see what we have done and what we are missing.
     Every sunrise you miss stuck in traffic on the way to your job, every tap of the woodpecker as she searches for grubs to feed her young, the dandelion roots diving deep into the soil the provide nutrients for the surrounding plants (do you really want to spray roundup on your "weeds" now?). These are the moments in time, the lessons we are missing. These plastic lives we have created are causing the disengagement of the people in our lives that matter most, our children and in some cases our partners. We aren't allowed to slow down. We aren't permitted to explore our true wild selves. If we don't keep fueling the machine progress will halt and money will be meaningless. The system is fragile.
      What if we let go of the wheel and let our hearts run free. Who would we hurt? Ourselves? Our families? Our bosses?The municipal governments? Now ask yourself who would benefit. This certainly wouldn't be a selfish decision. To be able to share yourself with people emotionally, physically (both in love and in labour) and spiritually. Sharing wisdom, tools, experience with those who wish to be part of your life. Are we really as free as we think? Are we allowing diversity to enter our being? Imagine the benefits to your family, your community and yourself as we enter the world of wild humans. Those living synergistic lives, together with the land. Without clocks to punch and debt to pay. To be truly human is to be free. Like the eagle and the waning cresent moon.
Let's take the time to teach our children that they are a wild being. Let them soar. Let them play. Let them learn in an environment that is fluid and alive. My daughter tells me she can't learn when she is cramping with menstrual pain. Why force her? What you're teaching them is that the system is pain, the system is restrictive and they really aren't free to make their own choices! Is that what you want? Seriously what the fuck have we done? We are missing the point of life and it's not getting better with "progress". 
     It's time to get to work. I hope you will join me.