Tuesday - January 18, 2005

Category Image Long Shadows



There's no moonlight and the sun is down, leaving the air suddenly and bitterly cold after a nice warm day. Far in the distance, a mile or more in some cases, are some lights. Some are flood lights, some are head 
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lights, but they're all a long way away. This is my new home in the high desert. I'm walking back to my hootch in the dark after a slightly pleasant meal at the chow hall, trying not to twist my ankle in a rut formed by the torrents of water that ran through whenever it happens to rain.

As I walk along I see movements to my side, but there's no one there. Very disconcerting. I was getting a bit spooked. I see clear shadows of people walking by, but no people. Are there ghosts in the Mojave?


















More movements and I look around, listening for people talking. I hear some laughter from far off, maybe a couple hundred yards, but I can't see them very clearly. Off in the distance I see headlights, maybe a 
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kilometer and a half away. The headlights are blinking as people walk around the vehicles. 

I've found my ghosts. The Marines from so far away are making shadows near me and even further. The air is so clear, the land has no obstructions, vegetation, or buildings -- making the shadows very long. They reach out and change how I see things near me. In the light of day all is clear, but at night these eerie shadows dance and beguile the senses. Here in the desert it's easy to see how something far away can influence our perceptions. This happens all the time, but here in the scenic vacuum of the desert the influence is starkly apparent.

Most people wander about the Earth not realizing how things far away change how they live. Most people live their lives not realizing how things long ago affect their society.

I'm in the desert and I can see how lights play with my eyes. I am in the desert and I can see how things in the past affect me now. I am in the desert and I think I can know that what we do now will impact the world for decades and centuries to come.
But what that impact will be isn't clear. I can only trust that what we do here in the desert will start or continue to influence others and allow them to live in justice and prosperity.

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