I wander this Joshua Tree wilderness most every morning. I live about a half mile from the southern boundary of the park. It’s my backyard. I’m surrounded by chollas and ocotillos and the ever-present creosote and indigo bush. There are the sculptures of long dead ironwoods all around. A coyote may come by to check me out now and then. Occasionally, but rarely, I’ll get a stern warning buzz from a rattlesnake (the namesake of this site) if I get too close. I’ll do a quick two-step away and just say relax little brother. I’m not gonna hurt you. He relaxes, I give a quick salute, and go off on my merry way. The sun rises and unleashes its power on this stark, bare-bones land, and I marvel at the tenacity of the life that thrives here under conditions that can kill people. It’s a good place.
I think too about the state of our society, about the heartless soul-less mean-spirited types that seem to rise to the top and assume power. And about the herds that fall for their bullshit. The bullshit pounded into their heads nonstop by those who have shriveled spirits, have cash register brains, only understand money and power, and are driven by lust for said money and power, all fueled by greed and ignorance and fear. And by the arrogance of those who are truly empty and clueless.
I turn my attention back to the desert around me and realize what I know deep down in my own spirit. This will go on. When the shrunken corpses of these clueless greedy ignorant ones, and of their timid, craven ass-kissing followers and enablers have long sunken in to the oblivion they so richly deserve, the wild will go on. The relentless sun will continue to dominate. The coyote will continue to sing. The snake will continue to hunt the rodents they live on. The chollas and ocotillos will continue to live and die and new ones will be born. The elegant dead ironwoods will stand watch. The cycle will go on. The wild will outlast the bastards. Is there hope for the future? Yes…
‘…the wild must win in the end’
Robert Service
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