Field Guide

I would say that there exist a thousand unbreakable links between each of us and everything else, and that our dignity and our chances are one. The farthest star and the mud at our feet are a family; and there is no decency or sense in honoring one thing, or a few things, and then closing the list. The pine tree, the leopard, the Platte River, and ourselves--we are at risk together, or we are on our way to a sustainable world together. We are each other's destiny.

I could not be a poet without the natural world. Someone else could. But not me. For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple. (154) ~ Upstream by Mary Oliver

I have been thinking about my core values, the principles upon which my moral code rests. In part, this is in response to the highly charged world we are currently living in which seems to call for each of us to reorient our compass to be sure we are pointing to our personal true north. Or, to return to our field guide to be sure we are identifying accurately and differentiating the natural from the artificial, the real from the ersatz. 

Here are the principles I listed to guide my actions and orient my decisions:

• First and foremost, cultivate, love and nurture your small circle of immediate family members and closest friends -- these are the people who will carry you through the toughest times and share life's joys in full measure.
• Apologize, forgive, and speak up -- never assume to be understood or irrelevant.
• Recall you are privileged by the simple virtue of where and when you were born.
• Strive to leave the world a better place: grow something, build something, create something, teach something, share something.
• Give generously and when you think you have given enough, give a bit more.
• Remember that everyone has a story and deserves basic respect.
• Work to build relationships with people, ideas, experiences, nature, and the intangible as all things are connected and share a common destiny.
• See humanity's commonalities, the desire to have one's basic needs met.
• Focus on humility as the only correct response to the universe and the infinite.
• Know the world is complex and messy -- you see only one small sliver of its reality.
• Be brave for fear is the most insidious of emotions.
• Be curious and a lifelong learner.
• Strive to live in the present as time is the most precious of gifts.

I am relieved that I could list the parameters of my field guide rather quickly and confidently -- a baker's dozen of ingredients in the recipe of my life. I will bookmark this page and return to it often. It is just the reminder I need now and again to check myself and see the beauty of this existence in full flower.

Field Guide

Tony Hoagland

Once, in the cool blue middle of a lake,

up to my neck in that most precious element of all,

I found a pale-gray, curled-upwards pigeon feather
floating on the tension of the water

at the very instant when a dragonfly,
like a blue-green iridescent bobby pin,

hovered over it, then lit, and rested.
That's all.

I mention this in the same way
that I fold the corner of a page

in certain library books,
so that the next reader will know

where to look for the good parts.