HUMMINGBIRD BOY

Climate Change Essays (4)

In the beautiful Jemez Mountains, located northwest of Albuquerque and west of Santa Fe, the very mountains where Los Alamos is situated and close to the site of the scientific labs where the Atomic bomb was developed and built is also the site of another geological feature named, Valle Grande.  It’s an extinct volcanic caldera, an ambling treeless valley that stretches and presses widely with ridges and peaks that ring and shape this impressive earthen feature into what some have described as the “right eye of Earth peering into celestial space.” It is this region of the earth, before the caldera, which is the location of the Hummingbird Boy story.  

The people in the story are already ancient on the earth.  They were here when the ocean coastline was visible and they remembered the little fires along the edges of the glacial cirques.  They could recall the sound ice makes tinkling and receding in the night.  Now their lives were in the shaded, rich loam, sand canyons winding their way to the river valleys below.  Abundant peace was theirs and they held it closely together, as one.

In stories like this, it’s almost impossible for us to grasp what a life lived in a manner that evokes peace could possibly be like.  This is why the oral telling is vital and necessary.  Around a small fire with no other place to be or go, the listener is caught by the flicker of light.  Slowly, the focus is upon the sound of a human voice making words that touch deeply and help recall all those other times when the reality connecting so many lives is again made tangible.  

Maybe this is why in our bustling world, the United States leads most other nations in chasing after adventures that stimulate a sense of being alive.  Travel adventure can certainly be seen as a by-product of the Transport Industry.  

The breadth of this nation was ideal for traversing.  Once those “pesky Redskins,” obstructing progress could be dealt with, then expansion would be quick and profitable.  Kill the bison herds, free the nation.  It was a simple solution: saved time, made money and unified the people for whom it was destined. 

A few rapid decades and travel over land and water, by steam or rail, was possible for any adventurer with or without the cash.  “Go west, young man!” was more than a timely jingle, it was a challenge to the growing populous.  It created a fear of being left behind and a sense of loss for any chance to “get yours.”  In the filling and empting of wallets resulting from empires built and lost, a creature with an enormous appetite was being birthed.  Never had the world experienced so many individuals all determined to control wealth and the lives of people struggling to make life livable to standards so rapidly shifting.  

This nation’s history books are like ledgers filled with the many names of the men who now owned the financial treasuries and securities that were determined for anyone who dared to stake their claim.  The fact that you were White and male was all the credibility needed.

Now here we all are.  Lumped together as citizens and yet our ability to amass financial wealth still determines who gets what of that which cannot ever be fairly divided: who will live what kind of life; who will die, and what kind of death?  Harsh?  No.  Just very real, when one can see how we the people have been here before and we still have no inward changes to reveal that being free is a reality.  Yet, we have all around us the promotions that we are free to select and choose the very life we want to live. 

Climate change is worldwide.  It affects all, no matter where we live on the planet. It’s quite astonishing really, to know everyone is being affected.  It will be awhile yet, before the effects truly hit folks directly where they presently live.  Certainly, the various unseasonal storms hitting this nation are an indicator of situations still on the way. Although this little message may have undertones of doomsday prophecy, it’s true intention is to aid people in preparing for what has been taking shape. And a long time coming.

Man cannot destroy the earth.  He can do it great harm though.  In which all earthly beings will suffer immensely.  One example is atomic energy.  What is it that man appears to have harnessed?  Who is that man?  What is the harness?  I’m not sure if these questions have been asked before.  I’m simply a man with a story I want to share.  It’s the only thing I know to do in a time like this.  I know this because the story tells me piece-by-piece, bit-by-bit to reveal the actions that can be taken by choosing.  Choosing correctly?  No, not exactly.  In fact, exact has never belonged to man.  Learning to listen, a person can make discoveries like this and be prepared for what to do when Coyote and Snake show up as they always do when interesting things are about to happen.

Coyote alone has experienced lifetimes of making poor choices.  He’s worthy to watch when attempting to find a way through sticky situations that often turn into dangerous episodes.  Matter fact, it was Coyote bragging ‘bout all the beautiful daughters of powerful people he knew that got everything and everyone riled and mixed up in that time when Hummingbird Boy was first active among the people: The People Who Could Make Things Grow and The Hunter People, the people of few words.         

Photo Credits: Deborah Littlebird