Thursday, January 21, 2021

Resilience - an Image Essay (mostly)


Hunter's Point, MI

Life is resilient.


Kingston Plains, MI


Under circumstances where humans wouldn't last a day, even life's most modest forms find a way.


Hunter's Point, MI


That's manifest.


Iron County, WI


There is but to look.


Presque Isle River, MI


By contrast, human construct - what we build to insulate and protect ourselves from life - is maintained only via perpetual maintenance.


Montreal, WI


We must work hard at that.

Constantly. Diligently. Wisely.

Lest life eats our construct and us in the bargain.


Wolverine/Mohawk Mine, MI


Inevitably, structures fail. Even despite our better efforts, much less prevailing good intentions.


Woodspur Public School, MI


Sometimes, philosophical construct is built sufficiently durable that it survives despite all odds.


Gogebic County, MI


Cracked, battered and worn, still it provides.


Gile, WI


But by refusing to engage the profoundly hard work while still counting on our structures to protect us…


Presque Isle River, MI


…we yearn only for the most common end.


Porcupine Mountains Wilderness, MI


And on the occasion that's the case then there's no cause to cry, if/when our vaunted constructs collapse of neglect and the ultimate fate we've unwisely courted for so long finally arrives.


Porcupine Mountains Wilderness, MI


Life finds a way. It will, with or without us. So it's high time we get back to work, there's much needs to be done.

Undeniably, the season is dark. Opportunity runs short.

But for today at least, the choice to fully embrace life remains ours.


Pukaskwa National Park, Ontario


4 comments:

  1. Marvelous photographs and strong words with hope in them.

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  2. Thank-you, dear Avital. The hope is less strained than it might've been, had history taken a different turn. Where and how life perseveres when left to its own devices is a subject for the ages. You'd think humans could make themselves at least so durable as the simplest plants, but...

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  3. I like the message(s) here, Frank. Nature is ever evolving, adapting and resilient. Let's just say I am much more optimistic about our future as individuals, as a nation, and our planet than I was before January 20th.

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  4. Thanks for the kind words. In part because I've spent so much of my life documenting systemic failure (us making the same mistakes over & over again), there's not much optimist in me. But we've taken a turn toward the light, for sure. Now we'll see what sort of work we're willing to do. If I'm optimistic about anything, it's that so many young folk seem to understand the gig far better than my peers ever did. So...now we'll see.

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