Open Letter


To those of you who have no true god, but money;
or to those of you who were raised like that, but are now
dimly becoming aware of some deep and integral
part of “being” that teases your spiritual
awareness on some wilderness
experience
with forty of your closest
friends in some crowded National Park…

Let me assure you:

That is no wilderness.
That is human herd behavior
transplanted outdoors. And, in spite of
the fact that you trip over each other
trampling the flowers in what was
some of the neatest open country around…

There is still plenty of open space
in good places,
and in good hands,
that is healthy, sustainable,
and productive.

We like it that way.

It should not threaten you that it exists.
You do not need to control it,
confine it,
fence it up,
or regulate it
to make sure it stays…

just leave it to hell alone.

Know that there are those of us
who would sell our souls
before we destroyed, or even
harmed the land—the creatures,
the grass,
the trees,
the sky,
the air…
which to us is more precious than anything
you can possibly…(this is no cliché)…ever
conceive of.

It is our blood and spirit and wealth.

Which is why we do not give a
damn for money,
except it sometimes lets us stay—and why
we do not live in herds, and why we fear no predators
except bankers
and slick city lawyers.

So, next time you feel inclined to
donate your resources to some hot-shot outfit
that wants to “preserve the West” by taking it away,
and shutting it off from those
who live and breath
with the same pores as the grass beneath their feet…

Go sell off your Exxon stock, your industro-techno dividends, shut down those earth-belching, planet-mangling, ozone-vomit livelihoods that keep you outfitted in the latest, high-fashion outdoor wear on your wilderness adventures…

And lay your head down every evening, resting easy, knowing that you do
the Earth
a far kinder deed.



Sincerely,
from the Ranch.