Observation Medication 8/5/11

Today, I want to talk about noise and humans.

Tuesday morning, I headed outside for my normal morning routine to feed the cats (we have 4) and the chickens.  When I walked out the door, I heard the sound of a chain saw very near by.  My mind started spiraling into fear that the land near ours was being logged again or the neighbors had finally decided and got permits to build something on the land that butts up to ours. 

At one time, there was some talk of a warehouse to store chemicals.  It should come as no shock to you that we don't want that near our home.  Thus far, there has been no sign of it, but whenever I hear noise like a chain saw coming from somewhere close to us, my head immediately goes there.

When the kids were just babies we laid in bed and watched the land next to ours being logged.  It was, by far, one the most violent things I have ever seen.  They had no compassion for the land that was being torn and up rooted.  I hope to never have to be witness to that again.  It sounds so dramatic, but I am certain logging can be done without destroying everything in the path of the tractors. 

That land is still recovering.  It is thick with briars and poison ivy and slowly but surely the trees are beginning to reach for the sky.  It takes land a very long time to recover from being logged.  I walk by it every day when I am walking Pepper and I am watching it make the effort to be a healthy wood once again.

I couldn't see the folks with the chainsaws, so I came inside and kept my fingers crossed it was the power company working on the swath of land they own just up the road from us.

I continued on with my day trying to not concern myself with all the noise, but then the sound of tractors began to grow closer and Pepper was getting antsy to investigate.  I decided to take her for a walk and in my own yard - well not quite my yard, but behind my grandmothers house, were tractors and chain saws.  I had no idea what was going on.

I gave my grandmother a call as she is the neighborhood investigator (she always seems to have the low down on what's going on around us) and she told me the power company was cutting all the limbs and trees away from the power lines.

Whew!  Relief.  

So, what does all this have to do with my observations?

Well, Pepper and I proceeded into the woods for our daily walk and they were silent.

There were no bird calls, no squirrels running to and fro.  Even the trees seemed to be standing perfectly still.  Everything was quiet except the awful noise of the chainsaw and tractors.  I guess the life in the woods was afraid that the humans were coming to take their homes again.

We live on a highway, so there is always noise pollution when I am in the woods, but the life back there doesn't seem too troubled by it.  There are always pretty songs being sung and much life running to and fro in the tree tops.  We frequently see deer and I know there is a rather large raccoon nest just off my path.  There is the occasional big truck that makes a lot of noise that quiets all the life or a plane goes over and the birds stop singing until they are sure it has passed. 

I often think about all the noise that humans make with all of our technology and machines and wonder what the "natural" world thinks of it. 

Tuesday, there was so much noise from the tractors and chain saws it was hard to simply enjoy being in the woods.  Pepper ran off into the brambles and I worried whether she would be able to hear me call her over the racket? 

I am grateful for the technology we have as humans and for all the machinery we have.  I know we all benefit from it - we have roads that take us to and from, we have computers that I can type out my words on, refrigerators that keep our food cool, so many luxuries we take for granted. 

I simply wish we were more conscientious about how we use it.

I wish our development and ways of building and producing were more in line with how nature does it. 

You know the adage, do no harm...

I think we can have the best of both worlds with a little effort on our part and a lot more respect for the earth that provides us with so much goodness. We should make more of an effort to remember that this place we abuse is what we call home and without it we wouldn't continue to exist.

If we spent a little more effort to protect it and work with it, then we might all be a little happier and less stressed.  The simple act of paying attention to what you are doing and doing it well can bring immense joy and couple that with a little mindfulness in our work and we have a recipe for helping to heal our planet and finding our way back to our connection to the source from which we come. 

I seem to be on a roll lately with the soapboxes.

The way I see it, I am a passionate person trying to be the change I want to see in the world.

My challenge for you is to sit quietly - you can even do it inside - turn off your tv, radio, computer, mp3 players and simply be quiet for one hour and listen to the sounds that you hear.  I'm not saying meditate unless you want to, just be quiet.  Read a book, draw a picture, something that doesn't require technology (unless of course reading means using your Nook just turn off the pandora station.)

I bet you will hear a few different bird calls, maybe some bees buzzing, cicada's singing.  Who knows!  Try it and see.  The only thing you lose is... well, from my perspective you only stand to gain from it.

See you on Monday!  (Unless of course you are heading out to FloorSpace to the opening reception tonight and if you are then I will look forward to seeing you there!