Manifesto for the Beautiful Struggle

A Grand Sacrifice

In the summer of 2021, Teton County, Wyoming, celebrated its Centennial birthday and sponsored a contest that asked, “What will Teton County look like in another 100 years.” This was my vision written as a poem to reconnect families, repair broken hearts, and save our wildlands

Manifesto for a Beautiful Struggle

After years of pandemics, climate crisis, civil war, and suicides,
  	food stopped growing, oil stopped flowing, and the
  		 sky darkened under a Blood Moon.

Soft people languished in their
technological wonders and
		addictions to false joy.

Mother Earth wept, 
wild animals spoke; the
Tetons stood tall, and the
people who loved them listened.

They turned to their Shoshone and Arapahoe elders,
to farmers and ranchers,
to teachers and survivalists,
to women and children,
to wild animals and native plants,
to intuitive dogs and horses,
to mountain guides and river runners,
to the fairies, pixies, and sprites that came out of the woods, 
to the spirits of the adventurers who died there,
to the storms and the stars and the moon.	

Some meditated,
some prayed,
some painted, 
some summited.

They stopped talking at the same time and listened to tears unheard.
They touched, they hugged, and they
looked deep into the 
brown eyes of the elk on the Refuge.

With enhanced awareness, courage, and optimism, 
they refused to breathe the toxic smoke of
fundamentalism, 
perfectionism, 
competition,
tribalism, 
celebrity, and 
unfettered growth.

Nature and society united under the immutable laws of the universe.
With quiet, resolute actions,
a new generation chose 
to make a difference over making money.

Time was short, the world was watching.

The ones who stayed would do anything
for their fields and livestock,
for the feel of powdered snow on their eyelashes,
 	for the discovery of a chanterelle,
 	for the splash of whitewater,
for the sight of a speckled fawn,
for the sweet purple kiss of a child eating huckleberries,
for the shimmer of a trout slithering through their fingers,
to meditate and write poetry at sunrise, and
 	to dance under solstice stars.

Tetonians reimagined technology, business, government, and community;
they slowed down, stopped competing,
grew and harvested enough to feed everyone. They
bathed in the forests, rivers, and meadows of wildflowers,
reconnected with their ancestors, and
repaired broken hearts.

Querencia became a uniting aspiration ~
“the place where you are your most authentic self.”

Passion for nature, adventure, art, and hard work
	became their currency.

They visualized themselves in the shoes of those they hoped to serve
 	focusing on themselves only after community and the land.

Schools prioritized creativity, 
critical thinking, 
stewardship, and 
play.

Churches preached only dignity
compassion, 
tolerance, and 
inclusion.

Teenagers played lacrosse and hunted mule deer
with friends from the Wind River.
Their sick never went uncared for,
differently-abled found meaning, 
Their elderly were kept engaged and active until 
buried or burned without chemicals.	
Their dump overgrew with larkspur.
_________________________________

Play became the ultimate luxury.

Vsitors experienced a digital detox;
a connection with nature was on the menu, served with
homegrown beer, huckleberry ice cream, elk minion, morel pasta,
meditation, massage, music, and awe, with
solitude for dessert. 

Memories were their only souvenirs.

Connection replaced consumerism;
purpose enhanced profits; the highest honor 
bestowed on those with wealth
went to those who gave it away.

The greedy, the egotistical, and the extractors were driven out.
Determined fools were not punished, but instead 
gently shown 
correctness.

The environment no longer their personal domain,
Tetonians grew rich in spirit and joy, and 
as the earth healed,
they healed themselves.

Mother Earth wept, 
wild animals spoke; the
Tetons stood tall, and the
people who loved them listened.