Changes and Allegiances

Yesterday there was a snakeskin on the ground, nearly transparent and slightlyopalescent, in its own way beautiful and perfect. Hollow and seemingly brittle, it glistened faintly in the sunlight like a plastic necklace dropped and forgotten. Somehow its former inhabitant had slipped from its bounds, leaving it empty and intact, then slithered silently off into the next episode of its life.

And the much-maligned snake evokes very few associations that are positive, but I have to admit there was something enviable about the idea of shedding one’s skin and slinking away to a new incarnation and new possibilities. I indulged the metaphor and applied itto many things: my life, the economy, the presidency.

But the changes we face as a nation today are more than a superficial shedding of theouter layer. There is a sea change coming at us, whether we like it or not, and it will take great strength to guide it in ways that will ensure the viability of our future. We have heard the platitudes of denial, the regressive slogans, the cynical attempts to scare us, but we have learned that the best decisions are based on reason, not fear, and we are ready to move forward -- with Obama of course.

The snake in the picture right now is a man named John Mc Cain, whose hunger for power trumps all else, whose misplaced priorities and recklessness of judgment werenever more apparent than during the crisis days of the previous week, and whose bizarre choice of a running mate is insulting and disturbing to thinking people everywhere. At times during the debate Friday night I almost felt sorry for McCain, the kind of sorry you feel when someone is so removed from reality, wanting something so much but so desperately off key you feel a little sad for him. My sympathy dissolved, though, when I heard his message and watched his condescending attitude toward the brilliant man beside him, a man he seemed unable to look at and speak to directly, a man who tried to be respectful and even sought some common ground but always made the point.

But I digress. I guess I am a little obsessed about this election.

And we may be at the end of something but we are at the cusp of something too.

I remain hopeful.

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Paul Newman died. I don’t usually write about movie stars and celebrities, but wasn’t there something about him that was better than most? A couple of years ago my friend Kelley and I saw him and Joanne Woodward just a few rows away from us in the audience at a play in Manhattan. He looked thin and frail, but still handsome and dignified, and everyone knew darned well who he was, but there was an implicit understanding to give him and his wife their privacy and their space. After the play, people paused and let them pass and not a single person called their names or intruded in any way, and judging by the way he gazed straight ahead as he walked, I think he really appreciated it. He wasobviously very loved and respected. Maybe it was partly because he had a sense of humor about himself. He didn’t let that movie star business go to his head buthe generously used what benefits it yielded to do good things for the world. So his passing makes me sad, even though I didn’t know him. Here’s to Paul Newman.

Here, in the backcountry, off the grid, nowhere in particular, the stars shone brightly in the night and now the morning fog is crawling up the canyon and to the east beyond the vaqueros the sky is beginning to blue.I remain hopeful.

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The following poem by William Stafford found its way to me on wings of its own andit somehow feels right to share it here. It’s called Allegiances:

It is time for all the heroes to go home

if they have any time for all of us common ones

to locate ourselves by the real things

we live by.

Far to the north, or indeed in any direction,

strange mountains and creatures have always lurked-

elves, goblins, trolls and spiders: - we

encounter them indread and wonder,

But once we have tasted far streams, touched the gold,

found some limit by the waterfall,

a season changes, and we come back, changed

but safe, quiet, grateful.

Suppose an insane wind holds all the hills

while strange beliefs whine at the traveler's ears,

we ordinary beings can cling to the earth and love

where we are, sturdy for common things.

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