Happy New Year from Lightning Rod

photo: Jeanie Valentine

Scene from New Year's Eve 2008 Ball at Lapwai Lane Shredders Club

Happy New Year to everyone from College Park. Here's wishing you and yours all the best in 2008. We (Paul Lyons and myself) raised a toast to all our College Park friends last night.

I well realize you may not agree with my outlook on the environment. You might even think I'm calling you an idiot from the tone of some of the recent posts. You might think a series of posts between community members about the environment is out of place.

You might (or might not) be a complete idiot, which for the purposes of this post I'm defining as a mute spectator to the drama unfolding around us. Feel free to define idiot as you wish. I'm not posting to make any individual who reads this page bad and wrong as individuals. I'm here to have civil conversations with people whose company and fellowship I enjoy and whose opinions I basically respect and value.

To reach for and surface common understanding, talk about the problems and solutions, to ask what's working for you, tell you what's working for me, etc. That's what people who form a community do. When we stop communicating, there is no community. Somebody in the community is yelling "fire" and wondering where the support to fight that fire is!

You may agree with some of the doomsday observations; and I might be selling myself short thinking the whole CP community really is in steadfast denial of our sitch on Mother Earth. It might not be entertainment you like, but at least I'm showing up to the party. Something beats nothing every time!

The point of this page is to provide a living context to keep some of our lifelong relationships alive and thriving year-round. Not just one weekend every couple years. We have the technology...do we have the mental capacity and heart remaining in our aging selves? Why rule out any conversation that "might cause" some discomfort? Isn't there much more at stake today than one's comfort level?

Idiots, unfortunately, can't have conversations. But people can. Will we begin to talk without guile or suspicion or judgement about what matters to all of us without taking things too personally or get into pissing contests and water everything down to mere opinions that have no bearing on the truth?

What about the truth we share but struggle to describe and abide by? Isn't that the promised land?

Hopefully in spite of our differences we all agree on one thing: We're living in interesting times that are fraught with no small amount of peril and uncertainty, as well as some significant opportunity to do good things to address our problems. Or not. But why take a chance. This is the world and the human race we're playing with. Who knows what's coming or from what direction...from the economy to the environment?

Care to conjecture on what's coming in 2008? Please take a moment every now and then this coming year to convert your thoughts into text and post something.

Here's hoping you'll show up to the party that never ends. Just like in the days of the College Park Community Center, if you don't like the topic of the moment you're welcome to bring up a new one.