Hug a Hippie

My buddy, Kris — #1 of my 5 regular readers — expressed surprise that I didn’t write anything on Earth Day. Of course, my first thought was to recycle a blog entry from prior years. In part, I was distracted by teaching and, in part, I was distracted by thoughts of the Pennsylvania primary (more later).

Earth Day was like every other day, I’m happy to say, in so far as I had moments being there, loving the Earth, if not the world. Our wysteria (as I prefer to spell it) is past peak but still magnificent. It may be the best display of redolent purple bunches in 20 years. The bees certainly think so — those that take time out from the rosemary bushes. The vibrant red to orange to yellow Austrian copper rose by the door is just peaking — its time is much shorter than the wysteria. Birds are everywhere. The hummingbirds are back. Hawks abound (perhaps because of all the damn doves). I nest between a great river and greater mountains beneath a stunning sky. I think Frank Zappa said it best when he said, “It’s fucking great to be alive.” (There goes my parental rating. Sorry, kids.)

It’s not that I’m always high on life. It is obvious that it is far easier — more natural — for humans to destroy than preserve. And the End of Days are going to be hideous and slow. But, optimist that I am, I believe the Earth will rebound and return without out the infection of humankind. (To our successors: Learn from our mistakes, even though we could not.)

Thirty-eight years ago, Earth Day began as an extension of the hippie movement. Yes — thank the hippies! Thank the liberals. Thank Tricky Dick Nixon — whose daughter, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, supports Obama — for bowing to democracy momentarily to support the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Endangered Species Act. Every one of those things *infuriates* the Radically Wrong, who would condemn Nixon for his liberalism. (Such insanity may be a consequence of environmental degradation, ironically.)

Peace, love and happiness,
mjh

our arbor

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