Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Waging Peace - Wallowa wolves . . .

Waging Peace - Wallowa wolves . . .

Every morning in the valley's coffee shops,
.. most evenings in the rural saloons,
.... the topic of wolves stirs local passions.

That popular western refrain...
.. "ma git the gun... they're coming agin..."
.... rings with its clarion call to arms.

There is a so-called popular mantra...
.. for dealing with the pesky and troublesome,
.... 'shoot... shovel... and shut up."

Locals often still speak boastfully,
.. about grandpa flaunting indian scalps,
.... or grizzly hides, claws and skulls.

Oregon paid bounty on lions, porcupines
.. and other unwanted varmits 'till late,
.... ensuring dominion over the land.

Perhaps the guvmint, revenooers, Californians
.. and liberals were spared quite the same,
.... though the virulence is still here.

Environmentalist is a dirty word, here,
.. until you start looking in detail,
.... at how some actually care for the land.

There is another brand of wolves these days,
.. that simply evokes a rolling of eyes and sighs,
.... bankers and brokers and real estate dealers.

Though casualties are often hidden from view,
.. lost dreams, homeless, addicted and
.... abused evoke a wide range of responses.

Personally, I would rather share this place
.. with the four-footed wolves whose kills
.... are never wasted, covert or abused for sport.

It is interesting to note that wolves and men
.. are co-evolved, co-dependent and co-exist
.... in many of the places where life is simpler.

Perhaps, in time, both individuals and communities
.. can come to view a balance of perspectives
.... for something as wild as each other.

For... in the end... given the technological capacity,
... would wolves consider allowing men to live
.... as poorly redeemable as we have proven to be.

--r.anderson