Slight Detour: Earth Day: 50 Years

New life begins on Earth in many glorious forms.

My neighbor Gary has a baby Percheron, which has been mingling with the deer.

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I really like my friend Dee's idea.

When I wished her a Happy Birthday this morning, she responded, "Decided that my birthday is on hold now til next year so will remain at 70 til then."😂🤣

Having heard yesterday that the "running of the bulls in Pamplona" is cancelled and that the 20th Anniversary Block Party for geocaching in Seattle has been rescheduled for 2021, I think Dee is on to something.

Since it's looking like a lost year for the inhabitants of this Earth, maybe we can self-inject a dose of "eternal youth," go around the sun for another year before officially becoming another year older.

I'll take it because chronological age does eventually set up some roadblocks, so if I stay 72 this year, there's more time for the bucket list.

Earth Day, however, doesn't need to hold off a year because we can still celebrate and maybe even we have more time this year to realize how important a role our Earth really plays in our day-to-day activities and our well being.

Fifty years of celebrating the Earth almost seems like an after thought when we think how old this planet actually is even without taking a year or two off for pandemics.

I can remember back in the '70s when a group of kids at the high school set up an organization which eventually sponsored a community clean-up.

If I recall correctly, we had some time off from a school day to go to our respective areas around town for cleanup projects with our students.

For some reason the area down behind the Panida Theater stands out in my mind as a specific responsibility for the students with whom I worked.

Long, long time ago and a lot of water under the bridge (both clean and dirty) but a short time, indeed, for showing an official annual celebration for the Earth.

Of course, I've always maintained that appreciating the planet on which we live should be a daily occurrence, maybe even several times a day.

I think many people on this Earth do just that through their civic activities and organizations, photography, hiking, etc.

Unfortunately, not everyone feels the same about our home here in the universe, and for that we may pay a hefty price some day.

Maybe we already are.

Anyway, I'm glad we can draw some attention to the Earth this year of all years.

After all, it's not just the United States undergoing tough times with the pandemic, as some would suggest publicly every single day.

We don't have to be extremists to help save our natural world, just thoughtful and willing to do little things that collectively make such a huge difference: mainly picking up after ourselves and leaving beautiful areas just as pretty when we leave as when we come upon them.

Simple tasks mean simple but profound gifts for all when we think of preserving our Earth.

Like Dee, with the grace of God, we are all headed for another 365-day trip around the sun.

This journey, of course, will be different from most.

May we use some of that newfound extra time in this "lost year" to reflect upon the importance and appreciate our planet.

And maybe, with some thoughtfulness and a little extra care, it can continue to remain a pretty good home for all.

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As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.

To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.

To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.

--Henry David Thoreau

We discover a new world every time that we see the earth again after it has been covered for a season with snow.
----Henry David Thoreau

Shall I not have intelligence with the earth?

Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself.

---Henry David Thoreau

Photo from Seattle area by Annie Love, April 21, 2020

And now that we have returned to the desultory life of the plain, let us endeavor to import a little of that mountain grandeur into it.

We will remember within what walls we lie, and understand that this level life too has its summit, and why from the mountain-top the deepest valleys have a tinge of blue; that there is elevation in every hour, as no part of the earth is so low that the heavens may not be seen from, and we have only to stand on the summit of our hour to command an uninterrupted horizon.

---Henry David Thoreau