Being "less bad" isn't good enough

Tree tops are tossing and turning under a stiff breeze. Local rainfall amounts have been minuscule, so far. Occasional patches of blue sky appear through breaks in scudding clouds. The temperature is in the mid-60's. Summer's (re)emergence is forecast for tomorrow through the weekend. The weather and the social fabric are displaying comparable instabilities. Would it be too much of a stretch to opine that each may be attributable to a clash of opposing masses, one of air the other of ideologies?

a "trout in the classroom" aquarium

Photo by J. Harrington

But there continues to be more sources of good news to be shared. Again today it's from the Trout Unlimited [TU] web site. They have some potentially valuable resources on their Anti-Racism and Equity Resources web page. I especially liked discovering The Sum of Us: A Progressive’s Style Guide. I intend to review it carefully and then remember to follow it, remembering also Yoda's quotation: "Do. Or do not. There is no try."

I'm particularly appreciative of the way TU has incorporated its Diversity and Inclusion resources into its broader conservation mission. Other organizations with which I've been volunteering seem to struggle to balance equity, diversity, and inclusion with the basic conservation mission that first attracted my attention. But perhaps I need an opportunity to practice patience.

So, despite COVID-19, institutional racism infesting police departments and other aspects of 21st century life in the US, failure to begin adequate responses to climate breakdown, the abominations in the White House and the U.S. Senate and other massive failures of contemporary leadership, there are bright stars in our dark skies. Many conservation organizations are rising to the new challenges. Increasing numbers of people are pushing back against the kind of conventional wisdom (Imperial Senate anyone?) that's brought us to our current state of affairs. There are additional resources that I wish more potential leaders were familiar with, including works by:

• Naomi Klein
• Rebecca Solnit
• Bill McKibben, and, especially,
• Margaret J. Wheatley

May the challenges we face, and the opportunities they offer, help each of our souls to grow deep, like a river.

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

By Langston Hughes

I’ve known rivers:

I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.

I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.

I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:

Ancient, dusky rivers.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

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