A Living Magazine - Day 164 - More on Nature and Being Mobile to Mobile

At about 12:00 am I woke to drips on my face. Looking up I saw through the tent screen that the inside of the tarp had drips running down the sides, and now the screen was allowing some of them through. It is just the worst feeling. Rain is my nemesis. It has been since leaving Maine last year. I went into emergency mode; moving the sleeping bag out of the way, pulling out my dirty towel to wipe up the drops that had fallen, investigating exactly what route the rain was taking.

I had noticed for weeks that the seam on the inside of the tarp once had a waterproofing sealant on it that was now flaking off and allowing water to get through. I could duct tape it later but that wouldn't be possible on this night. After an hour or so, I eventually adjusted the tarp channeling the leaks into one stream to the towel and let that do the work of absorbing it. But I just could not fall back asleep. I was worried other leaks would form. I kept almost sleeping and then waking up to check how saturated the towel was. It was frustrating and ultimately unnecessary, since the rain lightened by morning, and the towel never did get very wet. I'm too obsessed with rain and trying to find ways to be less so. It just leaves such a legacy the next day, and if that next day is rainy there will be no drying off. Everything always eventually works out, but getting to that point is stressful.

I caught about an hour of sleep before the watch alarm went off, and the rain had stopped. Looking up, I saw this ominous shadow...

Here's a better view from between the tent and tarp...

She's right next to the leak, as you can see.

She was wet, had lost a leg--probably because I needed to clear the spot the night before and had injured her. By her posture it was obvious that she just wanted to be left alone, but I couldn't take her with me. 

Interesting to note that when I posted these pictures at Facebook, every reaction was negative. I just can't accept that any creature as cowering, scared, tired and injured as this spider was deserves such blind hatred and fear. It will never make sense to me. 

I'm slowly learning - very slowly - that talking about the TRUTH is simply fruitless in many different ways. My commentary on texting, was absolutely ignored by all by friends and other readers. My call for even trying to reduce the habit of buying things that are unnecessary--even logically delivered as a self-preserving (and money saving, and world helping) piece of action that is simple to do? No reaction at all. 

Now, people know that texting kills. People know that it is stupid to buy things you don't need just for the thrill of buying something, because it leaves you with less dollars in your wallet at the end of the day, and just another nick nack to have to store or throw out once you're bored with it. Still, people won't even comment on these things. They CANNOT stop their self-(and otherwise)-destructive habits. 

I thought that maybe literally showing people what it's like not to own a cellphone, but still be able to very efficiently keep in contact with anyone I need to, for years now, might slightly indicate that for godsake, they could at least not text while they're driving! 

I thought that maybe showing people that I don't need a 2,000 square foot house, a three car garage, and a rented storage space for the stuff I don't use, might at least indicate that my extreme example of being able to live without anything except what is on back, could PROVE that scaling down the consumption and storage of unneeded crap, was not only possible, but comparatively easier than draining their money, thoughts and energy on it!

But I am a failure at being an example. I don't mind being a failure. I've "failed" in society's conventional eyes at everything I've ever tried to do to create a lifestyle for myself, all of my life. However, to actually show that I've succeeded at the above things, but still been unsuccessful in effecting any change in even my closest family members or friends, is very disheartening.

So, why would I ever expect to make way with something as wildly unrealistic as attempting to get respect for the life of spiders? Who could possibly attempt such a stupid thing?

Not all animals can be soft kitty cats and puppy dogs. But, in the same way a person born with a physical feature that she or he can't help is treated differently from "the norm"--sometimes with extreme hatred, "ugly" animals - mischaracterized, demonized, feared because of pompous, pampered, media-led, but uninformed, so-called "values" - will remain doomed. If people really could have the power to step on every spider, kill every raccoon, because it might get rabies, strip everything natural that has no use in the front yard, the world would literally fall apart. And, STILL they would do it.

Isn't that the real problem? There is a terrible and dark human need, not just to kill anything with more than four legs (and often a lot of things WITH four legs), but to not even consider the consequences of such actions. We are so efficient at killing each other now, that if we were to do the calculus - draw that asymptotic curve across the results of our distorted "logic" - anything nonhuman, ultimately, doesn't have a chance. What about my saying that these things need to change is so so socially radical to you that, even though you actually do agree (maybe secretly), you will not TELL me that you agree?

I will make my one and only prophecy, and mark these words well...

The future will be filled with despicable darkness

and death if we do not begin to sensitize ourselves to the natural world--ALL of it,

and thence, by default, to the members of our own species--ALL of them. 

Nature is not a thing to be stamped out--sanitized. None of it. None of it is "bad". Only human beings can be bad. But why must we prove this inhuman and inhumane fact to ourselves constantly? 

There can be a future of Light and Life, where harmony exists as the very speech of humanity, but we MUST turn around. 

Your kids, grandkids and all of your descendants are relying on you to change RIGHT NOW. We ourselves are alive today, because our ancestors found ways not to drop the ball. But, at this point in history, when natural resources can never be put back into the ground, and our weapons and destructive technology genies can never be shoe-horned back into their bottles, and our material advances are leaving our moral advances in the dust, the one way road into the future is being left with no u-turns allowed.

Is there a possible way to state any of this more strongly?

Witness the BEAUTY of what we still have!

I let her climb up onto a little branch, and then gently placed her on the leafy ground. Did she run over and bite me ferociously? No. She limped as fast as her broken body would carry her away from me, and to the safety of a hollow log. I was the only one who had done any damage, but I tried to make up for it, by not doing any more damage.

I crossed back over Route 80 to Greyhound and waited for my bus to arrive. This station wasn't too bad, but it had its issues. There wasn't enough seating, so half the people were standing or sitting on the floor by the time the bus arrived about a half hour late...

The bus was overbooked, as had happened so many times before. So each customer and all the bags that wouldn't fit in above the seats, or be checked for storage underneath had to share the small seats. Saggy had to be placed on the floor between my legs, so that I was unable to put my feet on the foot rest, nor adjust my position for over three hours. But, hey!, that's Greyhound's comfortable service for ya!

Thankfully the guy whom with I sat, holding his own bag, jacket and other items on his lap uncomfortably for over three hours, happened to be a great conversationalist--and that is not sarcasm. His name was Gordon, and he was eventually on his way to Pensacola, Florida, where he lives.

He saw me working on the laptop, barely balanced on my lap, and asked how much it cost. My Apple iPod sticker was a kind of joke to make it look like a fancy thing. I told him I'd put it there just to make it look like an Apple. We talked about its features and how happy I'd been with it. He said he needed to upgrade his computer at some point and might consider getting something more like mine.

That led to a wide ranging conversation about my project, and we got into most of the subjects I write about, including nature. He was quite knowledgeable about the animals in Florida and gave some great advice about the more dangerous ones, especially fire ants and killer bees. He also mentioned the strict "anti-vagrancy" laws; something I'd never heard about. He told me that I should keep cash in my wallet, just incase I was stopped by the police for looking homeless. I guess we will see how all of that plays out.

It was a long ride, but meeting this terrific guy made it pass quickly. We agreed to try to get together when I pass through Pensacola in about two weeks.

Getting off the bus and walking to McDonald's to check for a motel nearby, I got the real sense that I would be in the subtropics for a while...

More palms.

I was pleasantly surprised by the lower temperature here. I knew it would probably not last, but it was quite welcome after Montgomery's heat and humidity. I found a string of motels along the highway about four miles away and set off to investigate them. Usually I low ball my choice of places - hell, I sleep in swamps! - so when I saw the Family Inns of America rate in the $30 to $40 range, I stopped in and bought a room, unseen, which was  my first mistake...

My second mistake was not leaving immediately and asking for my money back. I wrongly calculated that maybe I could get a discount on the next night. Choosing to stay, I did at least get the shower I so desperately needed. I also reorganized and lightened my pack. These things were almost worth the $39 I paid.

I slept pretty well too, although I had very strange and dark dreams.