Environmental Responsibility - 2019

In my youth, there were habits most people in our country cultivated that would seem very odd in the modern era.

One example.

In the 1960’s it was not unusual for people who were travelling on the highways or camping/picnicking in the USA to toss the garbage they had accumulated out into the environment – the idea of taking the trash and depositing it in a bin was not the norm.

Not an unusual sight in the 1960's

Looks like a 3rd world beach doesn't it?

Shortly after President Kennedy was murdered, the new presidents wife, Lady Bird Johnson, started making a big push to help clean up the highways of the United States. Everywhere you went, there were billboards and TV commercials inviting us to dispose of trash properly rather than sending it to the wind.

Lady Bird Johnson - by all accounts
a very good person.

Mrs. Johnson was very successful in her efforts and the roadways of the country began to look more pristine.

In high school (late 60's and early 70's), I was introduced to the idea of doing more to preserve the environment. I recall one young lady who handed out Greenpeace stickers and tried to get us to join her club. She asked us all to put the stickers on our lockers or vehicles to remind others of the serious need to be better stewards of the environment. Her challenge was to change habits that resulted in destroying the beauty of our planet. The majority thought she was weird, but we humored her (it was cool to put things on the locker).

 

This is a patch, but we had stickers like this for our lockers.

Mostly, I was oblivious to the movement and didn’t jump right in or join the “crowd” in their activism. But the message continued with enough encouragement that it influenced the citizens of the USA to think more about being responsible. Eventually, the norm changed to NOT LITTERING and our land looked less and less like a garbage dump.

Like many others, I found that making changes was a slow and often annoying process (who would deny that it is easier to throw stuff out the window than to bag the refuse?). But the results of a slow, comprehensive effort by the millions of Americans brought about a much cleaner environment and a more comfortable and attractive landscape.

Fifty years later, the idea of throwing litter out the windows of our cars is offensive (though I will admit to having let a few orange peels fall out of my hand over the decades).

I am grateful for people like Mrs. Johnson, who took the initiative to help us learn to be better stewards of our environment. The results are considerable, and the habits of most Americans have been shaped by her efforts.

BUT!!

Dare I say it?

Yes, because it is true!

As always happens, there were people/organizations who took a GOOD thing and turned it into something totally warped from the original intent.

(yes,I’m looking at you Al Gore).

There will always be a small faction in the world who will corrupt a good thing in order to benefit their personal status/wealth – and those changes, as a rule, create greater challenges for the average person.

I love that the air we breathe is much cleaner than when I was growing up (we lived in mining towns and the smoke from the smelters often covered our homes).

When the wind was "just right" this smoke, full of sulfur and other
 nasty things would settle on our town. If it was a playground time,
all the kids had to go back in so they wouldn't get too much
in their lungs.

The cars we drive are way more efficient (mileage-wise) and safer for the occupants.

Except vehicles that look like this! (yes, I know it is diesel
but that doesn't make it any less nasty)

The highways we travel are MUCH more pleasant because there aren’t piles of litter (some still can’t resist – I’m sure it’s the visitors 😉).

And I’m glad that many of the mining and harvesting tactics of the past have been eliminated in wilderness areas.

But there are many people/corporations who have used the idea of “conservation” to further their own personal wealth generation…

…at the expense of those who cannot defend themselves!!

(This is where my Al Gore link fits.)

In many cases, all of the effects of some changes are at the expense of regular citizens who want to experience the wonders of this world without paying exorbitant fees (taxes, entrance costs, etc.).

A relevant experience from the Book of Mormon comes to mind.

In the days of the Jaredites, a righteous king seemed to have things in order so that his people could have places of beauty AND still access the necessary resources. Here are the pertinent verses:

And it came to pass that Lib also did that which was good in the sight of the Lord. And in the days of Lib the poisonous serpents were destroyed. Wherefore they did go into the land southward, to hunt food for the people of the land, for the land was covered with animals of the forest. And Lib himself became a great hunter.

And they built a great city…by the place where the sea divides the land. And they did preserve the land southward for a wilderness, to get game. And the whole face of the land northward was covered with inhabitants. (Ether 10:19-21)

Taking care of the environment is essential to protecting the gifts given to us by God. He has placed us on this earth to care for His work (people, animals, land, etc.) which is eternal. When we abuse what we have been given we are disrespecting the favors of our loving Father.

But when we try to exercise dominion over others - purportedly to save the environment - for personal gain (wealth, power, influence, etc.), we have made a mockery of the gifts God has given.

If you read one chapter before the previous quote, you find the reason for the abundance of serpents that kept the people out of the fertile land to the south:

But the people believed not the words of the prophets, but they cast them out; and some of them they cast into pits and left them to perish… And it came to pass that there began to be a great dearth upon the land and the inhabitants began to be destroyed exceedingly fast because of the dearth, for there was no rain upon the face of the earth. And there came forth poisonous serpents also upon the face of the land, and did poison many people. And it came to pass that their flocks began to flee before the poisonous serpents… (Ether 9:31-33)

The people had become so wicked and abusive of the gifts given by God that they were denied the full glory/beauty of the world where they lived. It took many years and a change in attitude to experience the things in the first quote.

I want this earth to be as beautiful as Eden when Jesus comes to be with us. The works of SO MANY will be rewarded as they continue to make our home planet more like Eden. But when the greedy begin to twist the purposes of God (in any way), there will be a price to pay.

Conversely, there will be an accounting for those who are frivolous with the resources and beauty of our home.

The gifts of God are great (we just have to acknowledge their goodness and be wise in their use) and He will provide for our mortal needs and prepare us for the eternal blessings He has to offer.

I trust Him to do His work.

I will also do my best to do as He has asked, 

 that the beauty of this world will be a testament of our desire to live like He does. mw

The End of the Rainbow

 A few weeks ago Teresa and I were headed down to Huntington to visit her dad (we go at least once a month to visit and work on projects he has). The weather was wet (we have had an abundance of rain this year- hurrah for desert rain) so we were taking our time. Just south of Price, heading toward Huntington, we witnessed a rainbow like we have never seen before. With wipers making their crazy "back and forth" to keep the rain clear, we were dazzled by the size and clarity of this celestial vista. Both of us were enthralled by the experience (it was a full rainbow as well so we could look back and see the other end on the other side of Price) and kept commenting how cool it was.

But as we came to the edge of town, there was a sight that seemed even more impossible to believe. 

We have both seen full rainbows in our lives -- we have experienced bright colors in the sky -- and there have even been times when a double arc was spread before our view! But this was one vista we had never encountered.

You know how the legend is that if you can find the end of the rainbow you will discover a 'pot-of-gold'? 

Well, we found it!!

We could, literally, see the place where the rainbow touched the ground.

We were both stunned to silence. So much so that it was necessary to stop the car and gather our wits about us. 

(I have to admit that there was a brief moment when I seriously considered jumping out and running to the point where the rainbow and earth connected -- just to be sure there wasn't anything waiting to be found).

For several minutes, we sat in the rain in awe of the spectacular scene before us.  We had no desire to leave such a magnificent miracle so we mumbled excuses for staying a moment longer.

Eventually it was time to go on. 

But even today, weeks later, we feel a special wonder as look back on that trip to Huntington.

You would think, after many decades on this planet and having traveled to exotic places of great beauty, one little trick of light would not make such a huge impression on two mortal souls. Yet, we felt very blessed to be witnesses to one of the great visions of mortality (and a little bit of heaven). 

This is not something that will be easily forgotten. We are all a little more "touched by the Hand of God" for these kinds of events.  

It is the little "tender mercies" that remind us how wonderful mortal life is and how much we can experience joy - even in simple things we find.

This first photo was about a mile away

This is where we stopped and were tempted to run across the field.
Sure hope there WASN'T gold over there!!

Fearless But Practical

Four plus years ago, Teresa’s mother passed away after a long struggle with dementia and other maladies. It was a tough time for all of us but, in many ways, we were grateful that she was relieved of the life she was living. 

Teresa's mom as a teen

The memories we have help us focus on who she is and what she has done to make this life better for each of us. We love her and would be thrilled if she was still here, but we are also comforted that she is not struggling with the issues of mortality that made her so frustrated.

Recently, my youngest living sister has had a serious bout with that “evil cancer” thing and we were very concerned that she might decide it was time to “go home.” She is now recovering and is blessed (by doctors and God) to have an excellent chance to continue being the sweet little girl we all love so much.

When I was a young man, my mother delivered a baby boy who died shortly after his arrival in mortality. We were very poor, so a funeral was not an option. Instead, we loaded the family into our station wagon, put Tommy’s little body (in a casket) in the back part, and drove to a family burial site in Alpine, Arizona. 

Luna Lake, near Grandpa's cabin in Alpine

It was the first time I had experienced the effects of death with such a personal closeness. We dug the grave ourselves, my dad exercised the priesthood and dedicated the site, and then we placed the little body into the ground. The experience was one of the sweet memories of my youth.

My own heart problems, a few years ago, were a reminder to me of the fragility (but amazingly wonderful) strength of our mortal bodies and the nearness of mortality to death.

(I was going to add pictures of what that was like, but it wasn't very palatable so I skipped them)

These, and a number of similar experiences, have invited me to ponder the temporary nature of life and determine how I will approach the way I live. As many have said, no one gets out of this experience alive (though I would dispute some of the finality of that statement) so I want to be as prepared as possible.

But, I have never (or at least in the time I can remember) felt fear as it relates to the coming experience that will one day welcome us all. In fact, sometimes I secretly long for that day that so many fear (Teresa hates it when I say that, so please don’t tell her I put it here). Not because I don’t like my life, but just for the newness of the adventure.

It’s not that I’m anxious to leave this life we are all living (I know some may not be having such a great adventure at the moment, but, overall, this is a pretty cool gig). It’s just that I’m not really worried about what will happen when this mortal frame finally gives up and shuts down (though I do have a few concerns about my own preparation for the next part of the adventure – but not enough to be afraid).

There is a poem, written by William Wordsworth, with the following lines that I find comforting and worthy of thought on this topic:

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
          Hath had elsewhere its setting
               And cometh from afar;
          Not in entire forgetfulness,
          And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come 
               From God, who is our home:

I find that this message expresses much of what I believe (the rest of the poem can be read here). The clouds of glory that linger with me offer hope of the greater glory that will come with the next step of our lives.

Another writer put it this way:

For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors. (Alma34:32)

Mortality is an amazing experience for each of us. It is not random or without purpose in the eternal scheme of things. We are here to do things that will prepare us to become more like God and Christ. To fear this challenge is to doubt the hope of the Atonement of Christ. He has promised that He will do all we will let Him do to bring us home. All He asks is that we follow the Holy Ghost, His prophets and then lift our fellowman to higher places.

With this knowledge and the influence of the Holy Spirit, I can say (with great confidence) that there is much ahead that will bring us joy.

The renewal of friendships, family relations, and eternal bonds with God and Christ will make all of the struggles of this life well worth the seemingly difficult parts of what we endure.

Life is not for suffering – it is for learning to be like God and Christ.

It is the greatest adventure ever!!

Live it with faith and love for all (avoiding fear at all costs) and it will be the best preparation for living like God thru the eternities.

The Last Train

As Teresa’s Dad ages (he will be 93 in Nov.), we are trying to help him in a lot of ways. The last several years he has expressed a desire to go to California and visit with his daughter’s family (Steve & Denise Stiles) and we have tried to make that happen. Last year we tried taking the train and had a pretty good experience, so we made the choice to give that another go.

The AMTRAK train starts in SLC for us, but Dad picks it up in Helper, Utah (most people have no idea where that is, I suspect.) and he rides alone for a couple of hours to SLC.

Since trains are stuck to a track, they often have delays and slow-downs that make arrivals and departures iffy – and this was one of those trips. Our ticket said we would leave SLC at 11:30 pm, but we didn’t get on our way until nearly 1:00 am. Still, since it was dark and we were only going to be sleeping, it wasn’t considered a problem because they can make up time out in the desert.

So, we settled into our chairs (which are much way more comfortable than airline seats) and slept thru the night… or at least that was the plan!

For some reason, the peace of the train was not as ‘peaceful’ as we had experienced on our journey last year. For one thing, it was a supremely SLOW journey. Not just regular train slow, but ‘creeping along just faster than walking’ kind of slow.

(OK, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it felt like that).

When we asked the porter why things were so slow, he paused before replying and then said, “must be lots of tankers on the rail.”

I suppose that might be right, but he looked a little guilty when he said it.

Our other problem was that dad seemed to be very stressed and could not find a way to sit comfortably. He just couldn’t settle, or sleep. And even walking around the car made no difference.

When we finally got to Sacramento, we were two hours late – just exactly the amount of time we were supposed to wait for our next connection (so I guess that was karma playing her little hand in the adventure). And that part of the trip was fast - arriving exactly on time at the Denair/Turlock station where Denise and Steve were waiting.

We all stretched, yawned, and chatted for a while until it was time to go to bed and get some rest – but with all the sitting and resting on the train, sleep did not come easily for any of us.

When we all arose the next morning, dad was a little slow getting ready. As he came out of his room, he made a comment about his left leg hurting and feeling hot. The girls had him pull up his pantleg to see and they were surprised to see ‘angry’ red swelling all over the lower leg. We all discussed what it could be and finally decided to take him to see a doctor.

Here’s a lesson we learned!

Most clinics don’t like to take care of 93 yr. old men!!

They are concerned that they won’t have the ‘tools’ to help.

And they are also probably worried about liability.

While both clinics couldn’t help, they did surmise, by the symptoms they saw, that he probably had a blood-clot in his leg… not a happy diagnosis for an older guy (or younger ones either).

So, we ended up in a really nice Emergency Room with kind and competent doctors and nurses who were very polite and worked diligently to try and find what was wrong.

The first thing that we learned was……… he did not have a blood clot!!

YEA!!!

Upon further review, they “pronounced upon him” cellulitis!

And the cure was strong anti-biotics and rest for the leg.

WOOHOO!!

But that left us with a different problem.

There was this REALLY long train ride in store for the victim.

Quick thinking and use of our cellphones solved the dilemma.

We cancelled the train (mostly refunded) and rented (hired if you are from Britain) a car so we could drive back.

Now, there may be some who will say,

“isn’t riding in a car just as bad as going on the train?”

We wondered the same thing so we asked the doctor what to do and he said if we would stop periodically and let him walk around, he would be fine.

So, we proceeded with our plan.

It worked. There was a lot of driving and we did stop often to let him walk. And we also stopped for the night at our home in West Valley City before going on to Huntington, but there were no further incidents with “the leg.”

So!!

The title of this post is “The Last Train” because it WILL be the last train dad will ride for the rest of his life (which I suspect will be many more years, based on the available data). I’m not too sure Teresa and I will ride again, but we might find a time where it would be an option.

So, the adventure of the Train is complete, and all are home. Dad has recovered and is back to his “puttering” around the home.

And we have a new adventure to share with our posterity, so they know we weren’t just “lay bouts”, wishing to find adventure but sitting at home flushing life away (thinking of the crazy mouse show).

Oh, and let me give a special thanks to Steve and Denise for being great hosts on these little adventures.

There couldn’t be a more accommodating couple, always willing to taxi people around and let them hang in their home. Hopefully we can find another way to ‘transport’ dad so he can visit again. And if not, we have had some wonderful experiences over the past few years.

The kind that will last forever in dad’s mind!!