Independence Day, the 4th of July, 2007
04/July/2007 09:22 Filed in: Weekly Column
4 July 2007; Volume 9, Issue 22
PDF copy
I find myself this 4th of July holiday in Seattle, a trailer load of my best stuff and my outdoor stuff sitting in the driveway. With a couple more hours of fitting it all together, in the morning I shall be off with all my stuff moved to eastern Washington. Well it really is not all my stuff, but at least all the stuff I should be moving.
Over this moving sabbatical from writing a weekly column I have learned many things. Now what is ruminating in my mind is just how to adapt this knowledge into a new location and a renewed emphasis.
A couple of thoughts along that line relate to the differences between soil and dirt. Soil is alive and grows things, dirt is just dirty. Through a book I read, which I will elaborate more fully in later installments, all great civilizations come to their demise as they treat and alter their nation’s soil into dirt. Could the way we look at the land in agriculture, truly become the coffin of our American independence? Sounds pretty far fetched, sitting in front of a computer screen in some urban center somewhere in the world, doesn’t it?
More short term and to the point however, is the metaphysical question of your personal soil, or dirt. Is your personality open to life, able to grow diverse crops and produce a bountiful harvest? Too often we think of that harvest as money, grown and fertilized, just as you would do a field of soybeans, or corn. But as you convert your mind’s fields to just a cash crop, are you really just limiting your potential to feed yourself, in all the senses. Three squares a day of just corn, or soybeans is going to become a very boring meal, after day one.
This finds it’s focus in leadership. During the move I have had the opportunity to talk and communicate with the total political spectrum in this great land. The overwhelming consensus is that we have no leadership, many times focused upon the so called leadership of one’s own political understanding.
In the last election, American’s voted Republicans out of national office in the House and the Senate. This was typified by the lowest approval ratings in history. Now just six months in power, Democrat Party control has continued that slide even more precipitously.
Where is the leadership? There is none, just partisan bickering, and news that reports what the fields of Presidential candidates raised monetarily, rather than what they stand for. Furthermore, why is all this important well over a year before it even matters? Simply it is perceived the he (or she) who has the most gold will make the rules for the next 4 to 8 years. That is not even an unworkable democracy, and really in no way connected to the true working republic our founding fathers were willing to give their lives.
Here lies the connection between soil and dirt. Our natural agriculture is in tough shape. Our metaphysical soil, in all our fields is just a collection of dry, barren dirt. What can be done to change this? We must change the way we farm, or more precisely the way we cultivate, in order to make the barren dirt back into soil. alive with natural diversity of plants, animals, and other symbiotic organisms.
Soil building, even metaphysical soil is normally just a process of adding organic material and neutralizing the pH. That takes place over centuries if left to nature, provided that the climate remains amenable. But dirt can become soil in just a few years by wise agricultural practices. The thought to keep in mind is that in the context we are talking about, the emphasis for change is added by utilizing wise soil management techniques, not evolving from within the dirt.
Maybe instead of all the politicians doing there thing, it is time for a new character to run for President of the United States, the personality of Willie D. Wormie. I was in contact with Willie about his candidacy back in 1992, and had just created his press release, when another Slick Willie decided to enter the race, and eventually won. With baby boomers in charge it has been all down hill since that time, and the current soil horizon does not look any more fertile.
I got an email from Willie this morning asking me my thoughts about his running for President on the independent ticket of the Good Earth Party. In that email Willie recognized he could not win, but he did believe that he might be able to take votes away from candidates that cannot recognize the difference between fertile soil and just plain dirt.
No matter how you might choose your special interest, even though you may have never seen fertile soil in your life, you perceive that it does truly exist somewhere. So why not throw your support behind Willie D. Wormie, for President. Think of this, you don’t even have to be a citizen of the United States to support Willie, and better yet campaign finance laws do not apply. Willie D. Wormie for President, especially in the world’s barren political dirt, God’s greatest soil producer, the humble lowly earthworm may have a positive effect to change the world so that not only worms, but also just plain people matter.
Have a blessed 4th of July, remembering the freedom that America still represents in the world.
PDF copy
I find myself this 4th of July holiday in Seattle, a trailer load of my best stuff and my outdoor stuff sitting in the driveway. With a couple more hours of fitting it all together, in the morning I shall be off with all my stuff moved to eastern Washington. Well it really is not all my stuff, but at least all the stuff I should be moving.
Over this moving sabbatical from writing a weekly column I have learned many things. Now what is ruminating in my mind is just how to adapt this knowledge into a new location and a renewed emphasis.
A couple of thoughts along that line relate to the differences between soil and dirt. Soil is alive and grows things, dirt is just dirty. Through a book I read, which I will elaborate more fully in later installments, all great civilizations come to their demise as they treat and alter their nation’s soil into dirt. Could the way we look at the land in agriculture, truly become the coffin of our American independence? Sounds pretty far fetched, sitting in front of a computer screen in some urban center somewhere in the world, doesn’t it?
More short term and to the point however, is the metaphysical question of your personal soil, or dirt. Is your personality open to life, able to grow diverse crops and produce a bountiful harvest? Too often we think of that harvest as money, grown and fertilized, just as you would do a field of soybeans, or corn. But as you convert your mind’s fields to just a cash crop, are you really just limiting your potential to feed yourself, in all the senses. Three squares a day of just corn, or soybeans is going to become a very boring meal, after day one.
This finds it’s focus in leadership. During the move I have had the opportunity to talk and communicate with the total political spectrum in this great land. The overwhelming consensus is that we have no leadership, many times focused upon the so called leadership of one’s own political understanding.
In the last election, American’s voted Republicans out of national office in the House and the Senate. This was typified by the lowest approval ratings in history. Now just six months in power, Democrat Party control has continued that slide even more precipitously.
Where is the leadership? There is none, just partisan bickering, and news that reports what the fields of Presidential candidates raised monetarily, rather than what they stand for. Furthermore, why is all this important well over a year before it even matters? Simply it is perceived the he (or she) who has the most gold will make the rules for the next 4 to 8 years. That is not even an unworkable democracy, and really in no way connected to the true working republic our founding fathers were willing to give their lives.
Here lies the connection between soil and dirt. Our natural agriculture is in tough shape. Our metaphysical soil, in all our fields is just a collection of dry, barren dirt. What can be done to change this? We must change the way we farm, or more precisely the way we cultivate, in order to make the barren dirt back into soil. alive with natural diversity of plants, animals, and other symbiotic organisms.
Soil building, even metaphysical soil is normally just a process of adding organic material and neutralizing the pH. That takes place over centuries if left to nature, provided that the climate remains amenable. But dirt can become soil in just a few years by wise agricultural practices. The thought to keep in mind is that in the context we are talking about, the emphasis for change is added by utilizing wise soil management techniques, not evolving from within the dirt.
Maybe instead of all the politicians doing there thing, it is time for a new character to run for President of the United States, the personality of Willie D. Wormie. I was in contact with Willie about his candidacy back in 1992, and had just created his press release, when another Slick Willie decided to enter the race, and eventually won. With baby boomers in charge it has been all down hill since that time, and the current soil horizon does not look any more fertile.
I got an email from Willie this morning asking me my thoughts about his running for President on the independent ticket of the Good Earth Party. In that email Willie recognized he could not win, but he did believe that he might be able to take votes away from candidates that cannot recognize the difference between fertile soil and just plain dirt.
No matter how you might choose your special interest, even though you may have never seen fertile soil in your life, you perceive that it does truly exist somewhere. So why not throw your support behind Willie D. Wormie, for President. Think of this, you don’t even have to be a citizen of the United States to support Willie, and better yet campaign finance laws do not apply. Willie D. Wormie for President, especially in the world’s barren political dirt, God’s greatest soil producer, the humble lowly earthworm may have a positive effect to change the world so that not only worms, but also just plain people matter.
Have a blessed 4th of July, remembering the freedom that America still represents in the world.