The Legacy of Luna

I recently read The Legacy of Luna by Julia “Butterfly” Hill…and now I want to live in a tree. OH BOTHER.

Julia lived in a 200-foot redwood tree for 738 days. I repeat, 738 days. Hill’s extended tree-sit (some would call it civil disobedience, but that sounds to legal for my liking) was in protest against a lumber company. Luna, the tree Julia lived in, became Julia’s best friend—Luna became a part of Hill.

The amount of love-fueled-courage Julia exhibited is overwhelmingly inspiring.

Hill risked her life for a TREE. Granted it was a 1,000 year old tree, but it was none the less a simple tree that most people take for granted (that’s right I’m referring to you, teacher who makes us print out a ridiculous amount of documents). Some may think she is crazy, but there is something admirable in her character. Hill let go of all of her attachments, which is more than I can say for myself. There were times during her two years when she felt broken, when she wanted to escape the wind constantly blowing in her ear, when she was exhausted. But she never gave up. She kept on truckin’.

We all need a little bit of Julia in our lives. We all need a little Luna too.

Find something you are passionate about, and fight for it. Stop people from constantly cutting you down.

(P.S. Julia won. The lumber company saved Luna and a 200-foot buffer zone around the tree.)

be you

Now I don't think I have shared my love of a certain pop star with you yet. I love this not only cause I just think she is absolutely brilliant and awesome but because she is nothing but herself. She has no qualms about doing whatever she wants and is completely comfortable with who she is. Now of course I am talking about Lady GaGa. She is who she is and who cares what anyone thinks? I can't even express how happy she makes me by simply being who she wants to be.

I am glad there is an influence out there who just says "be who you want to be". I think there needs to be more of that in our culture. Growing up there was too much wear this brand, own this bike, play this sport... I am glad there is someone in the mainstream and popular who is so outspoken about being yourself. When I was in middle school I had to find that message in punk rock, I can only wonder what I would be like, how different my life would be like if there were more folks like Lady GaGa when I was growing up.

it's okay to let me in

Now that I look back on the really low times in my life, I can see how much I’ve grown. I had often put on a façade of being strong, tough, and independent like a man should be. I knew that I wasn’t going down a good path. I knew my depression wasn’t getting any better. But I couldn’t bring myself to get help. Help?? Like see a shrink? Who are you kidding? They are for psychos and crazy people and weak people. “Weak people.” That phrase repeated in my head and I thought to myself that I would never and could never accept that fate. The fate of so many people who can’t even handle life, so they end up crying and whining about their problems to an old guy with glasses.

But during my senior year of high school, my guidance counselor called me into her office because she had heard I had been cutting myself. She told me a story about how she was raped and how she was afraid of what people would think of her if she said something. But she somehow gained the courage to tell her parents what had happened, and had gotten help for herself. She found the courage to speak about one of the worse things that can happen to a person. She was able to break her silence.

It wasn’t until about a year later when I had gone through therapy that I realized how strong she really was. I was doing better and was finally healthy, and realized that I should have asked for help from the start. Because getting help didn’t make me weak, and having an illness that I couldn’t cure myself didn’t make me weak. I would have shown my strength by going up to my parents and asking for help. To submit to someone. To say I am letting you in my life and letting you help me along my journey to become healthy. That is courage. That is strength. That is love.

the courage to give thanks.

Since it’s Thanksgiving, I want to write about the courage to freely give thanks. As I have said before, I have a theory that we, as human beings, do not express our feelings to one another very well. In fact in my very first post I said:

I have a theory that HUMAN BEINGS DON’T WORSHIP EACH OTHER ENOUGH, DON’T CHERISH EACH OTHER ENOUGH, DON’T EXPRESS THEIR ENDLESS CAPACITY TO LOVE.

I think that to do these things takes courage because they make us incredibly vulnerable, they show our raw humanity.

But let’s take a second to imagine what the world would be like if we all ran around expressing to each other how truly GLORIOUS we all are… In the words of Thomas Merton:

“There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun. If only they could all see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time. There would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed… I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other.”

But, you see, I believe in the depths of my heart and soul that this is possible. The power is ours and the shift can take place within each of us, one at a time, day by day… it comes down to having the courage to take the risk and say…

Thank you for being you. I am grateful that you are in my life.

conviction

Now before I start I don't want to step on anyones toes. I am by no means telling anyone that my views are the 'right' way of thinking. In fact that is the point I am trying to make here. All humans have the right to feel free to express their opinion and keep their own moral standards. I have my own moral code as many of us do which we hold ourselves too. However, there is a line however gray it may be at times that I strongly encourage all of us to beware of. A point where I may push your beliefs on others. This isn't to say I can't debate or even argue values and morals with folks but if I begin to think less of someone purely based on a belief they have then I have failed myself. True, I am guilty of this and I try to catch myself, but I think the struggle is important. To hold myself to the standards I set for the world.

The scene I'd like to share is from one of my favorite TV shows, The West Wing. It follows fictional president Josiah Bartlett (Martin Sheen) and his senior staff and the everyday things they do (national disasters, wars, elections, etc.). President Bartlett is a devout Catholic and quite "liberal", he often finds himself struggling with the religions right on numerous issues. In this scene he confronts a radio personality and Bible literalist from the religious right who questioned his faith earlier in the episode. Here we see Bartlet stick to his conviction.

Again I would like to say I am not saying what he says is right or not, merely showing an example of sticking to your guns when others try to make you feel bad about what you believe.

I can't do it alone

So I know the Lost series finale was a while ago, but I felt the need to talk about it. I really wasn’t into the show that much, I mean I watched the second and third season, but then didn’t really keep up with the rest very much. But I decided what the heck there’s nothing else on TV and no one was around to go line dancing, which I absolutely love. The beauty and wonder and the feelings of freedom and spirit that fill up inside me while dancing is just amazing, and you can really open up and be authentically you if you let go and just dance. I think my courage helps me get out there and just be me. So yeah, I just decided to put it on. By the end of the show, I was tearing and in awe at the wondrous message the writers sent. The whole entire show, the whole reasoning behind the show and the themes of the entire series were given in this last episode. Those themes were love, friendship, and above all courage. Throughout the show it was one scene after another where one character would perform a selfless act to help another. However, there were three main spots that shot out at me as amazing.

The first was when John Locke was wheeling himself up to the church and Ben was standing outside. Ben did terrible things to Locke and even killed him at one point. Ben understood the error of his ways and apologized deeply for what he did. That in itself is such a wonderful thing to see to show that even the darkest of people can find the spark of light they have in their hearts, one of the many reasons I love people. But even greater than that was when John look him square in the eyes, smiled, and said I forgive you. That really shows how great a person he was, that he could forgive a man, a human being, for the evil things he did. Because he understood that people aren’t evil, the things they do may be evil and wrong and hurtful, but by forgiving and showing love and compassion John knew it would mean the world to Ben and bring out Ben’s greatest light. Forgiveness is a truly selfless act.

The second involves Hurley. Hurley is the epitome of unselfishness throughout the entire series helping anyone he can and doing everything he can. Yet like most every other character, and like many unselfish people, he took on tasks always by himself never asking for help. Many people view asking for help as weak because how can a weak person who asks for help possibly help a person in need. You look to the strong and brave ones for help that stand out and can do everything by themselves. But Hurley finally saw this as untrue. Asking for help doesn’t make you weak. It takes courage, bravery, strength, and more heart than a lone rider could ever have to ask for help, to realize your flaws and your weaknesses and say I need your help. It takes trust and love to ask a friend for that help, to say can you help me, can I put my trust in you to stand by my side through the thick and thin because I cannot do it alone. That’s love. And Hurley found it. He was appointed Protector of the island, a solo job, one that embodies power and prestige, but Hurley went up to Ben and said can you help me, I can’t do this alone. I can’t even fathom the amount of courage it took Hurley to be able to say, this is too much for me to do alone, I need a friend and a helping hand. A friend to grow with, to love, to work side by side with, to have help you all the way. It’s not helping everyone you see by yourself, it’s learning to let people in and saying I can’t do it alone.

And lastly Jack. He’s the doctor, the person who took control from the start of the series and became protector of the island at the end. He had to save the island by going into the heart of the island and fixing it, a task that would probably kill him, and his words were “I have to do this alone,” it was always meant to be me and me alone. Well he completed his task of saving the island and he was proud, but he died for it. However before he died his father came to him and told him something that opened his eyes. He said it was always about the people. The people you lived with on that island, ate with, hurt with, and cried with, they are the people that matter. And we all die sometime, but we have to make the most out of every second and every moment we are with the people that really mean the most to us. He told him it was never about just him, and not about him saving the island or trying to save others by going at it alone. It was and is about the people, his friends he met and those loving friendships he will forever keep. Because people matter. Love matters and friendship matters. And Jack finally came full circle dying where he awoke on the island, or maybe finally coming alive in a new place. A place where he sees that he is not alone and he doesn’t need to be what he thinks is a hero. Because the real hero is the one who has courage to love, to open up, to let go, and just vividly live with the people around their and never feeling too righteous or too scared to ask for a little or a lot of help now and then. It’s not weak to ask for help, it’s courageous.

courage to love.

I used to be somewhat unenthusiastic about courage. As an overly enthusiastic person, this is odd. I think I associated courage with what I might call bravery--risk taking for the ask of risk taking--which is fine and dandy, but as I said, I am somewhat unenthusiastic about it. I then came upon a quote, painted on a wall in an art museum that changed my level of excitement about courage (well, along with the fact that Gryffindors are known for their courage):

The word "courage" comes from the Latin word "cor," which meant heart. That's where the courage comes from. It is not an act of bravado. It has nothing to do with ego or adrenaline. It has to do with falling in love and having the courage to give over fully to it.

I had never quite thought of myself as courageous and never thought about where courage comes from. What else could inspire a person to overcome fear--fear that can be so paralyzing, so limiting--but the love in that person's heart?

If I really think about the things that inspire courage in me, they are the things I love most in life: liberation, honesty, human beings, justice... the list goes on, but they all come back to love. Love gives me courage and that courage expresses the love that inspires it. They go hand in hand--we have the courage to love.

--mt

Boy Wizard

I wish I could be more like Harry Potter. I also wish I could marry Harry Potter (I would settle for Daniel Radcliffe), but at the end of the day I would accept being more like the green eyed boy wonder.

Why? Well, for starters he’s frickin’ awesome. But the more important thing is that he has a great deal of courage. Could you see yourself leaving your friends to fight the Dark Lord? I didn’t think so. We all have our own Dark Lords, things that we are afraid of and need to fight to be free. I just wish that I had a little bit of Potter inside of me to fight my Dark Lords.

I’m realizing that I am not a very courageous person. I will gladly go tell someone that what they are doing is wrong, and I’m prepared to fight them in an epic battle (I’m being figurative when I use the word fight, because fighting with someone wouldn’t be very Quaker like…I wonder if there are Quaker wizards?). Anyways, I have found that I’m not very adventurous; I’m not one to fly a car to school because I couldn’t cross through platform 9-¾. I would probably wait to tell my parents, and see if we could sensibly work something out.

But in the words of Dumbledore “It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends.” So I suppose as long as I have the gumption to stand up to Ron and Hermoine then I have all the courage that I will ever need. I may not be able to fly a Nimbus 2000 with a Hungarian Horn Tail chasing after me, but I can stand up to my friends. I don’t let other people change who I really am—I guess I’m more like Harry Potter then I ever thought.