My rock’s still there. I thought it’d be gone, but it’s not. The bank it was buried in is gone, but it isn’t. I have no real way of knowing how far down the brook, briefly a river, it was swept, but swept it was, at least a little bit.
The path to the rock was slippery and busy with pools and rivulets. I found newly revealed quarts, far more humble than my prize, and I carried some of them home.
If I wasn’t on social media I’d never have known that the storm was the worst in nearly a century. I find that thin veneer of ignorance and anxiety rather disconcerting.
When it comes to things like national identity politics I have no issue with turning off my phone. I really ought to do it more.
But to think that by doing so I might blind myself to the fact that the capital of my state, the city nearest me, one of my favorite places on Earth is under several feet of water?
The path to the rock was slippery and busy with pools and rivulets. I found newly revealed quarts, far more humble than my prize, and I carried some of them home.
If I wasn’t on social media I’d never have known that the storm was the worst in nearly a century. I find that thin veneer of ignorance and anxiety rather disconcerting.
When it comes to things like national identity politics I have no issue with turning off my phone. I really ought to do it more.
But to think that by doing so I might blind myself to the fact that the capital of my state, the city nearest me, one of my favorite places on Earth is under several feet of water?
It’s beautiful out here. It’s beautiful and it’s fine even when it’s not some place else, and it’s almost always not fine some place else.
Is Montpelier the line where I start to care about what I read on the news?
Clearly I don’t care enough to do much of anything when it comes to wars in Africa, torture in South America, famine in Asia.
But if it were just Ludlow that got destroyed, would I care then? Honestly, I wouldnt’ as much because I don’t get thai food from Ludlow and my favorite book shop isn’t in Ludlow.
I’m myopic and uncharitable, a lot of us are, and that’s gonna be a lot less cool as global events start to feel a lot less global in a hurry.
Is Montpelier the line where I start to care about what I read on the news?
Clearly I don’t care enough to do much of anything when it comes to wars in Africa, torture in South America, famine in Asia.
But if it were just Ludlow that got destroyed, would I care then? Honestly, I wouldnt’ as much because I don’t get thai food from Ludlow and my favorite book shop isn’t in Ludlow.
I’m myopic and uncharitable, a lot of us are, and that’s gonna be a lot less cool as global events start to feel a lot less global in a hurry.
