Flat Brown

Henry Rollins has spoken on several occasions about racism, citing that he could talk for hours to a racist and still not understand how they can be racist. There are no sane reasons to be racist. There is no argument that logically can explain why someone should become racist. Recently i had a possible breakthrough in terms of understanding a problem i find just as difficult to grasp.

For some time now i have been a vegetarian. My decision to be a vegetarian and my decision to be environmentally minded are two of my strongest ideals and passions.

i have 'hung out' with cows. Chances are in this country, at some point, you've found yourself in the proximity of a cow. They are quite common, quite large, and quite slow so they are not difficult to spend time with. i have fed a cow or two. i have pet cows on their furry heads. i have looked into their big, gentle dark eyes. Looking into those big eyes of theirs i made the decision that if i could live a healthy lifestyle without someone having to smash these gentle creatures over the head with a sledgehammer then we would both be better off for it. i truly do respect all living things and the more living things i come into contact with the more i cherish life in general.

Now this is not my big recent breakthrough. Long ago i realized that people can easily go on eating meat in this country because they don't have to look into that cow's big eyes. They don't have to watch that chicken trapped in a cage with it's beak burnt off. It's all nicely packaged away in the grocery store so no one has to think about it. They can just make choices based on taste or habit with a separation from the other end of it. Whether or not i agree with carnivores i have at least come to some understanding as to HOW they can ignore the source, the reasoning for which i have made my decision.

My recent breakthrough came this weekend while driving a scenic stretch of road through the mountains that i have not driven in a few years now. A stretch i remember vividly from the trips of my childhood. The road swings widely left and right as it steeply ascends and at times steeply descends. To your left and right you see mountains, nothing else, just wooded mountainside where vegetation grows up as high as it can until it reaches a point on the mountains where even it cannot grow. The only thing along this 30+ mile stretch of road made by man is the road itself which was forced to conform to the will of the surrounding mountains. Here and there, where it is safe, a small row of parking spaces lie to allow travelers a spot to pull over and take pictures of the beauty around them. i was fortunate enough to grow up with this. Today i watched the ocean roll out during low tide as one of the biggest storms in years started to roll in. Again, i grew up with this. Even living in cities in this region you cannot escape the nature at your doorstep. You see it every day. You see the effect every day.

This, unfortunately, is not true for all parts of this country. In fact, it is fairly unique to this part of the country. On a trip out to Albuquerque New Mexico a few year ago visiting relatives i was amazed by what i saw. As i travelled around i found that i could drive massive distances and see very little. It was flat and brown broken up but angular, jagged bits of vegetation. I was a small child the previous times i had visited and had forgotten just how much of a void the landscape seemed to be compared to that of the landscape of my home.

i was moved years earlier when relatives came out to visit us and we showed then the ocean for the first time. Witnessing someone experiencing the ocean for the first time is mesmerizing and awe inspiring. That trip back to New Mexico helped me put it back into perspective. i had just grown up with the ocean, the same way i had grown up with the mountains and their forests.

Had i grown up in that area of New Mexico i could understand how people might think: flat brown, or huge Wally World with a ginormous parking lot, what does it really matter? Growing up i saw that building a McBurger meant cutting down trees, killing shrubs, and displacing little critters. The cause and effect were clear and in your face. The impact of things was understood from everyday experiences. Limits on impact became a logical conclusion to these experiences.

In this country, more of the decision makers come from flat brown places than from green, hilly places that meet the ocean. Again, as with diet choices, i do not agree but, to some extent i feel i gained a bit more of an understanding of how people can live in such a sense of denial after this weekend's drive. To maintain denial there must be a buffer of delusion surrounding you. The Midwestern United States has vast amounts of room that certain individuals (not everyone) can use to surround themselves with to maintain the level of delusion that many harbor.

Through some sense of understanding action can come about to help persuade. If we can get more people to experience the environment at early enough ages, and with enough frequency, then maybe their is hope for our future. Either that or just don't let people who have never traveled anywhere have a say in the decision making processes that effect all of us.