QUOTES
I
feel like we are at a time of great creativity if we choose to embrace it as such,
if we choose to engage the will of our imaginations and imagine another way of
being in the world. Democracy requires our participation. The land trust movement
in this country is a beautiful example of how we can find hope within our own
communities because it bypasses government and creates a diverse and truly bipartisan
conversation on behalf of the land. We dare to define community to include all
life—rocks, rivers, plants, and animals, alongside human beings. Whether it is
the Castle Rock Collaboration in the red rock desert of southern Utah or the Blue
Hill Heritage Trust in coastal Maine, these small groups made up of neighbors
and friends from all walks of life are having an extraordinary influence on our
creation of an ethic of place. I believe radical change occurs through the care
of our relationships.
Writing
changes the way we see the world. And in the most powerful sense, writing can
change how we feel about the world.
Speak.
Shatter the silence. Question everything. Redefine. Reimagine patriotism. Reimagine
hatred and take back the language.
I
still have great faith in democracy. I have great belief in the power of community.
We have
to speak out now on behalf of our community and on behalf of the land and say
they're the same thing and say "No, we are not rolling over" and "No, this is
not a corporate enterprise." This is democracy in the fullest sense and we must
have regard and reverence and those are the cornerstones of a just society.
We
have to ask ourselves, "What do I have to give?" and then, "How do I give it?"
Whether it's as a writer, an organic gardener, as a teacher, a social worker,
a mother or father, we can exercise that courage and insistence, resistance, and
say there's another way of being, another way of seeing, and I do think that counts.
And numbers count. In many ways it comes down to that.
I
do not think we can look for leadership beyond ourselves. I do not think we can
wait for someone or something to save us from our global predicaments and obligations.
I need to look in the mirror and ask this of myself: If I am committed to seeing
the direction of our country change, how must I change myself?”
What
do we wish? -- To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means
to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from.
Democracy
invites us to take risks. It asks that we vacate the comfortable seat of certitude
. . . We are nothing but whiners if we are not willing to put our concerns and
convictions on the line with a willingness to honestly listen and learn something
beyond our own assumptions.
The
human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace our questions:
Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole beings,
not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinion? And do we
have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving
up, trusting our fellow citizens to join us in our determined pursuit—a living
democracy?
The
very least you can do in your life is to figure out what you hope for. And the
most you can do is live inside that hope.
Despair
shows us the limit of our imagination. Imaginations shared create collaboration,
collaboration creates community, and community inspires social change.
