Hope

Today I completed my painting about how the Gulf of Maine is like the Ganges, thanks to the greedy appetites of the cities. That's a lot of theory and invective to put on an image. In the end my intentions may be blowing in the last hurricane winds. I could forget all the intention and just paint mystery, beautifully but that wouldn't be enuf for me.

My old dog is now on prednisone for a pinched nerve. She has been feeling so little pain that she romped off into a ravine that I had to rescue her from. I was thrilled to scramble over the unstable rocks, up short cliffs and under low hanging branches just to see that big doggy grin as she impatiently paced, waiting for me to bring her to safety. The Vet says her vertebrae are fusing, she has spondiosis and severe rheumatoid arthritis-along with the pinched nerve. But with a bit of meds, she is terrific!

I have been reading more & more articles about awareness of global warming. I am far from convinced that we are doing enuf yet but heartened to see some activity. I view it as the same as my dog: a few meds and we feel much better. But the underlying degeneration is still severe and ultimately threatening.

Many people are now writing/ speaking about how the answer to the "terrorism threat" is to act out of thinking and ideals that represent an alternative. After all, as Delaware Senator Joseph Biden, the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee said in a speech to the National Press Club in Washington recently, 'terrorism is a tool. The problem is the world view it seeks to implement' (paraphrased). That, to me, is the heart of what must be done about global warming as well. We have to keep acting out of informed imagination.

It seems as tho the concious life these days is about courage. Denial is so much more comfortable, like my old dog on meds. Perhaps it always has been about courage in the face of humanities insanities but the global stakes are so high these days on every front.

I am like my grinning dog, thrilled to see signs of environmental rescue. And yet I am quite cynical about the long range forecast. We have done such enormous damage and still are. The lower gas prices just invite complacency. So I simply continue to move forward, painting my obscure images, doing the research, stumbling on the instability beneath me, glad to know that I am not alone in this human adventure. The party is getting larger.