LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Spirit |
by Tom Bohache |
A Life to Emulate "So I will continue to stand for what I believe in, and I will continue to refuse to back down and go away. No person, no business, and no government has the right to destroy the gift of life. No one has the right to steal from the future in order to make a quick buck today. Enough is enough. It's time we as humans return to living only off the Earth's interest instead of drawing from the principal. And it's time we restored some of the capital investment that we've already stolen.... I will continue to believe that love is the answer, love is the power, love is the truth." In this way Julia Butterfly Hill concludes her amazing and profoundly moving memoir of the two years she lived in a giant redwood tree in Northern California. (The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods; HarperCollins 2000, p. 237) She did this, braving the elements of nature and the ire of disgruntled people, in order to prevent a lumber company from cutting down "Luna," as this giant hundreds-of-years-old tree was called by the environmental group trying to save her. I believe that Spirit helps us to encounter events, people, and texts at the precise moment we are ready to experience them. I vaguely remember hearing in the news about some "crackpot tree hugger" who had taken up residence in a tree some years ago, but back when it was happening I had not yet had my consciousness raised about the crisis in our ecosystem, nor had I fully embraced the principles of Creation Spirituality. So when I came across her name in another book I was reading, my curiosity was piqued and I immediately sought out her book from Amazon. What a story! Julia's book, like all truly memorable biographies, goes beyond the simple events of her own life. Her struggle to protect nature as it suffered in silence takes the reader into the realm of Spirit and helps one to realize that indeed we are part of something greater than our individual lives and circumstances. She recounts how as a twenty-something just out of college she yearned for some sort of meaning in her life. During a trip to California she heard about the predatory activities of a lumber company which had cut down so many trees that an entire town was nearly destroyed by flooding and mudslides. She volunteered to take part in a "tree sit," a direct action demonstration reminiscent of the anti-war protests of the 1960s and ACTUP in the 1990s. However, Julia was to remain in the tree long after her fellow protesters had given up; she stayed there for over two years, until she was assured that Luna would not be sacrificed in the interests of corporate greed. During those two years she endured sleet and hail, extreme cold and heat, not to mention the inconvenience of having no formal bathing or waste disposal facilities. Meals were make-shift depending upon what had been hoisted to her in a basket by those who were able to sneak past the "no trespassing" signs and the armed guards posted by the lumber company. She tells of the efforts the company made to eject her from Luna: Not only was she shot at by hired guns; she was even stalked by a helicopter that nearly knocked her out of the tree with the wind it intentionally generated to make her fall. She tells how she suffered with nature when she heard the chain saws cutting down other trees, noting that when a giant tree falls it makes a sound very much like human screaming. In hearing these trees die, she felt as though members of her family were being sacrificed before her very eyes. Ultimately, however, her story is one of triumphthe overcoming of fear and the assurance that when we do what we know is right in our hearts we can seldom go wrong. She taught me that there are causes worth putting everything we hold dear on the line. There are moments in our lives when we are called upon to step forward and make a difference. Thus, Julia Butterfly Hill takes her place alongside other reluctant prophets such as Moses, Jesus, Buddha, Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Mother Jones, and Dorothy Day, just to name a few. Julia reminds her readers that what she went through did not seem noble or inspired at the time; only in retrospect do our actions of love, justice, and compassion seem bigger or more important than they were at the time. Nevertheless, I know I will not soon forget her story or the moral that no one is ever too young or too inexperienced or too marginal to make a difference. In an Afterword to her book, Julia muses: "There will be times of blissful joy beyond my wildest imagination and times of pain where I truly wish that I could die. There will always be points along my path that will challenge me with struggles and adversities that seem at first glance too big to take on. Too big to change. Too big to transform. But as I learned in Luna's branches, in the most powerful, sacred time of my life, the difference is in the doing. We do the right thing, because it is the right thing to do, regardless of the outcome. We persevere because someone today has to hold those accountable for the children of tomorrow. We love with all that we have, even in the face of overwhelming hatred and violence because we know love in action is the hope for our world." (p. 254) How is Spirit calling you to make a difference? The Rev. Dr. Tom Bohache is the pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of Rehoboth, which is in the process of inaugurating some "green" programs to help the earth and its people. Check out MCCR's website at mccrehoboth.org. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 17, No. 14 October 12, 2007 |