Last week I spent some quality time listening to the sound of waves crashing, and wind whispering through tall trees.
I was in
Tofino.
A place so "environmentally friendly" even the new local Brewery (
Tofino Brewing Company) recycles its water in production of the stuff they sell only in refillable "growlers" or direct to the local bars so as to minimise their impact on the local environs.
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| Try the Hopin Cretin I.P.A if ever in town! |
The town is full of people, both transient and permanent, who have quit the city life for a chance at peace. A lot of the rentable sleeping space has no TV or phones, and cell phone reception is spotty at best. The point of coming here to escape your Crackberry, iPhone and the endless tirade of doom and gloom on the news.
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| Wickininish Beach - Tofino - cell free zone! |
While I was in amongst the tall trees on Friday I found myself pondering the mighty
Nurse Logs. Nurse logs are simply trees that have fallen over, that have sporned new life.
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| Nurse log (horizontal) in Pacific Rim National Park |
The remarkable thing is that some of them are truly massive, having survived from the times of the Knights Templar before they fell over 100 years ago. So wide your arms don't have a hope of reaching the half way round, so long that when they fell, you know that someone SOMEWHERE indeed heard it.
Basically they up and quit. They grew for 1000 years, they fell in minutes, and now 100 years on they are indispensable in the continuing process of new life.
My point?
Humans come to places like Tofino to get a glimpse of the past still growing in front of them. They come to ponder life, to see a simplicity and circularity of birth, life and death we as humans have forgotten. They relax when they realize how small they really are and how unimportant "stuff" is.
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| Tree self mulching-artsy AND useful! |
Knowing when to quit is something plants and other animals do not question. To be sure they don't think about it.. they just live their lives. I like to think they know they are part of something larger, but maybe they are just oblivious.
(Lucky them)
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| Oblivious starfish |
For all that, every tree, bird, starfish I saw that was living in its natural state, unabused by us damn humans, seemed pretty darn content with their lot.
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| Artful (even in death) Crab |
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Watching all these stressed out execs driving their SUV's from tree to sea and back and slowly unraveling made me wonder, is "getting ahead" really getting us western humans anywhere?
I say, quit like a Nurse Log.. lie down, and let goodness - in the way of art, community and compassion - grow out of your brain break, and watch the world (which WILL keep turning after you are gone) grow into a happier place.
