Out With the Old, In With the New

Seven weeks, three trail bridges, two sets of trail stairs, nine tent pads, a dozen fires, endless laughs and a whole lot of brush cleanup later, it was time to say goodbye to Lake Ouachita State Park. The staff held a farewell breakfast in our honor and I am proud to say that for the first time in this program, I did not cry. No, it had nothing to do with not being completely distraught about leaving - Kyle, our favorite trail crew friend, taught me a new trick: when you're about to cry, squeeze your butt cheeks!

Sunset over Lake Ouachita

 Our next destination, Hobbs State Park, was about five hours northwest. Upon our arrival we were welcomed with warmth and kindness - typical Arkansas. Our new home is a beautiful, five bedroom cabin in the middle of the woods. Fireplace, a living room with recliners, a laundry room inside the house. Did I mention that I have a room that I share with only one other person? With closet space? AND a door? AmeriCorps has completely redefined the word "spoiled" for me.

On our first day at Hobbs State Park, we attended a celebration held in honor of Aldo Leopold. For those of you unfamiliar with this brilliant man, Leopold was an American author, scientist, ecologist, forester, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his book A Sand County Almanac (1949). At the celebration, we honored the magnificent nature writer by reading passages from his book. My team was asked to participate, and I volunteered to be one of the readers.

“We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect,” ― Aldo Leopold

Inspirational, beautiful writing with a tragic twist that sought to remind us about the fragility of nature, the vitality of learning to appreciate it and the importance of preserving it. Being surrounded by dozens of people who all saw Leopold as a role model, who spent their lives fighting his cause made me realize that throughout my life I have not been doing enough to help preserve and protect our planet.

Yes, reading up on what can be done to help is important, but "it's effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum," ("Sunscreen Song" reference, please have a listen). The problem with today's society is that each day, fewer people are providing direct aid to causes. We get bombarded with offers from others to help out FOR us - money donations, petition signatures, Facebook "likes" (the latter is just silly if you ask me, yet you still see thousands of people "liking" photos to provide prayers for dying children).

Rather than donating money to Green Peace, why not go out and plant a tree? Trust me, the feeling of accomplishment you get when you give something life with your own two hands is worth the dirt under your fingernails. And who knows, if planting trees will make people feel a deeper appreciation for nature, maybe they will stop destroying it.

Planting my very first tree!

I probably do not say this enough, but I am thankful for AmeriCorps - it has given me the opportunity to feel not only a deeper connection with nature, but also a sense of purpose when it comes to helping it.

Sundays With Morrie

Sadly, our time at Lake Ouachita State Park was coming to an end. The last few work days were spent burning large piles of wood, putting finishing touches on tent pads that we built, and cleaning. On our last weekend at the park, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and make one last use of the marina - Sunday morning, I kayaked to an island to spend some time with one of my favorite books, Mitch Albom's "Tuesdays With Morrie."

For those of you familiar with the book, I am sure you understand my obsession; for those of you who are not, below are some of my favorite quotes from the story (and my favorite quotes of all time, for that matter) that will hopefully spark your interest.

“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning."

“Well, for one thing, the culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. We're teaching the wrong things. And you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it. Create your own. Most people can't do it.”

“We've got a sort of brainwashing going on in our country, Morrie sighed. Do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. And that's what we do in this country. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it--and have it repeated to us--over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise. The average person is so fogged up by all of this, he has no perspective on what's really important anymore.

Wherever I went in my life, I met people wanting to gobble up something new. Gobble up a new car. Gobble up a new piece of property. Gobble up the latest toy. And then they wanted to tell you about it. 'Guess what I got? Guess what I got?'

You know how I interpreted that? These were people so hungry for love that they were accepting substitutes. They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back. But it never works. You can't substitute material things for love or for gentleness or for tenderness or for a sense of comradeship.

Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness. I can tell you, as I'm sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you're looking for, no matter how much of them you have.”