Butterflies and Memories

Butterflies and Memories

D. S. Mitchell

A Public Warning

Another pearl gray beach day here at Surf Pines, Oregon. Yesterday, I posted an article on a petition signed by more than 26,000 psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. These mental health professionals were warning the public that, in their collective opinion, Donald Trump had a serious mental illness. They further requested the Congress remove him from office, based on Article 4 of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Damn Scary

OMG. Pretty, damn scary stuff, if you ask me. I’ve followed politics all my life, and the only other time I have heard people question a U.S. president’s mental health was during the late stages of the Richard Nixon’s tenure.  At that time stories of Nixon’s nightly drinking and paranoia was fodder for a frenzied media.

Sharing Something Beautiful

With all that said, you might think today I would stoke up the fires on that story, but because I’m in charge here, I am going to discuss a lovely short essay, by Jennifer S. Kushnier. I originally saw it printed in one of those little books you see at Hallmark card stores. You know, the kind. They are usually really small and have lots of cool quotes, short stories or essays.

Anyway, this little essay by Ms. Kushnier  reminded me of my childhood. When I was a kid, even in city neighborhoods there were plenty of vacant lots, some were quite big, really open undeveloped fields where beautiful things happened. Thank you Jennifer, your piece was lovely and charming.

Butterflies by Jennifer S. Kushnier

Jennifer began her essay with the lines, “All kinds of wildflowers prospered there, from ivory Queen Anne’s lace and purple Clover, to yellow Buttercups and Black-eyed Susan’s, to burnt orange Indian Paintbrushes and those light-blue flowers that seem to be so rare these days. To this field came dozens of butterflies.”

Island Life

That little essay takes me to another time, a distant point in my childhood. When I too was very young. At that time my family lived on a dairy farm on a picturesque island. Sauvie’s Island is an amazing piece of land caught between the Willamette River and the Columbia River in NW Oregon, about 20 miles west of Portland, Oregon. Most of the island is a huge wildlife refuge with a few farms, even today, in this busy industrialized time.

Protect What We Love

I can remember when the birds would take to the air, a sunny day went black. Today, on this protected island the sky will never be so full of birds that the sky is black with their bounty. How long before the Monarch’s will be gone forever, and the Wood Duck a mere memory? I think it is imperative that we challenge the Trump Administration at every turn as they push their fossil fuel agenda. It is dangerous for the environment. A threat to wildlife, a risk to our water supply. The gutting of the EPA could potentially poison everything we know and love. If you love the sight of a Monarch butterfly in flight, if you love the sound of a woodpecker, if you love the beauty of a Wood Duck floating on a pond, if you love the sight of an Eagle on the wing, you are not alone. Please, stand up, speak out, and stop the threat to all the wild places by the fossil fuel pushing madman.

Thank you Jennifer S. Kushnier. I have tried to find you but I have not seen anything else you have written, but this little piece was just perfect.

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