Every now and again a trip to the desert is required. As Edward Abbey observed, “there is something intimate in the remote.” I am now preparing to spend some days in Death Valley and with characteristic irony, I am going to Death Valley for its LIFE…the richness of creosote bushes, Joshua Trees and jackrabbits. Antoine de Saint Exupery captures my mood, “I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing yet through the silence something throbs and gleams.” I am a big fan of both throbbing and gleaming.
I am gathering gear for the journey. Guidebooks, headlamp, sand boots, walking stick, spotting scope, all are piled at my feet. I am enjoying the place names: Ubehebe, Zabriskie, Thimble Springs and Stovepipe Wells.
Humans go to the desert for many reasons, including, atonement, rebirth, exploration and adventure. I am going for some of these reasons but the most important reason is escape. I want to leave the forces that are currently shaping our lives behind. No talking heads, no absurd politicians, no aggrieved white folks are coming with me and they will not be missed. I will substitute throbbing and gleaming for bitching and moaning. Locusts and wild honey will replace burgers and pizza. What is most important is the fact that we will miss the 2020 American Election coverage that will clog the airwaves.
I will be on Retreat. Having already voted, I do not need to be subjected to the roil of interpretation and the staccato counting of votes and electoral college delegates. I will bring my wife with me and and some friends are joining us and that will be the world for a few days. Intimate in the remote.
Of course, I can’t leave my hopes behind. I fondly hope that we will ratify the social contract we drew up in 1787. I hope there is a rebirth of the idea of the Common Wealth…of the need to give a damn about each other, John Locke, Blackstone, Montesquieu and the other authors and influencers of the early Republic might be considered again. Or not. I can only hope that we re-commit to throbbing and gleaming and leaving hate and fear behind.
I will nurse those hopes somewhere in the Badwater Basin. I hope the result will be gleaming.
VOTE
Olio Folio 
You can have the locusts and wild honey. I’ll see what’s on the bar menu.
LikeLike
James –
Good to know you want to go to the quiet place. Tuning in or out is usually voluntary. You may recall in
1976 when the election featured Jimmy Carter that it was my habit to avoid the
media, even lunging for the switch when news came on so I wouldn’t be exposed and my goal was to
make it to New Year’s Day of 1977 without learning who won the race. (I didn’t make it.)
Now is a good time to tune out, what with poison ideas and viral threats being transmitted so effortlessly
by means we humans hadn’t developed in 1976. The actual virus is benign and has no intent, whereas the ideas
are often meant to infect and transmogrify, with evil motives, the persons who are victimized.
Let’s try to stay focussed, calm, informed and do the right thing with that ballot. Like the ‘skit’ on SNL this past
week said, “Enough is enough is enough, Mr. Trump.”
LikeLike