Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Revitalizing the Wetlands; An Alternative to Draining the Swamps





This duck-like sculpture made me laugh.  Frozen silliness.  When I saw it, I thought of politics.  I hadn't realized how much the news was affecting my appreciation of water.  This has been a year of the drip, drip, drip of criminal allegations, multiple leaks, the seep of scandals, a draining of the swamp, and frozen negotiations.  Water, water and more water. 

Our local newpaper recently had an interesting article.  According to the author, the water fallen on our nearby Blue Mountains seeps through rock at approximately ten feet per year.  That frozen duck in Mill Creek could conceivably be composed of molecules sourced from precipitation that fell a hundred years ago and water from last winter's snow melt.  

Likewise, the political events described in this year's news have their source from influences and situations that began generations ago mixed with the impact of the lastest of tweets.  A century from now our politics will reflect the wisdom we are acquiring from this year's events and the maturity of another hundred years of experimenting with democracy. 

Since seeing the ice duck, I have been looking for pleasing images of water.  The canyons gave me  good examples.

A nearby mountain stream jumped its bed and runs briskly down a former trail.


The shape of sleeping cat drapes over a rock at the foot of a waterfall. 


Crystal-bright water drips down a roadside cut.


In politics, maybe we could look forward to more positive, water-based descriptions like these:  floating ideas,  whirlpools of innovation, flooded with opportunities, rivers of funding, and – instead of draining the swamps – revitalizing the wetlands. 
 

       The water isn't going to stop transforming itself and neither will this democracy.