Red and I have been to town a dozen times already, getting carrots, ice and other things for the Open House. Have a yellow donations bucket for the Hubbard Hall Scholarship Fund, my favorite herding stick, the yards are mowed, we cleaned the manure away from the gates where the donkeys are standing, we put chairs out in the side yard and the back near the Studio Barn, I got three cases of water for people to drink, moved the cars. Can’t quite think of anything else, I’ll just leave Red sitting by the pasture gate, he loves the sense of eternal hope for work.
In our world, the institutions we have depended on for support and guidance have turned inwards. Our political and corporate and media systems are cold, detached, greedy and power-driven, they fail to help us turn towards one another, rather than against one another. They celebrate and exploit and encourage our differences and erode the sense of community that is much a part of being human. They advance the idea that our world is a cruel and dangerous place, and only they can guide us through it, if only we will vote for them and buy their insurance and goods. They have driven the advocates of a spiritual and peaceful world to the very margins of life, out of sight and mind. off of the “news.”
I came to see this clearly in my own anger and disconnection, and I find myself – often to my surprise – seeking in my writing, my photography, my blog, my life, my Open House, my Open Group At Bedlam Farm, to rediscover community, a sense of civility and commonality, a need for connection that is the essence of the human spirit, the one thing that separates us from all other living things. When we turn on one another, we turn on ourselves, it never feels good or whole. When we turn towards one another, we begin to heal, to remember what it means to be a human being.
An odd thing for me, a lone wolf, an outsider, a born introvert, an oddball, to be doing. I belong to nothing, join nothing, reject the angry and defiant lefts that mark our identities. I would be appalled to always be on the “left” or the “right” of anything, what a shrinking of the mind. I reject the corporate driven news that has helped degrade our politics and our view of human life. Technology relentlessly separates us, and sometimes, it can help help us as well.
So our Open House is part of this effort to rediscover community, to understand what it means to be a human being. And technology can divide and isolate us, it can bring us back. I find that we don’t need to agree with one another – a controversial idea in a culture where people shun disagreement and only talk to versions of themselves. We don’t even need to like one another, that is not the point. We have lost our sense of neighbors, our sense of community and many of us are struggling to find it again, to turns towards one another and share our lives in trust and safety and respect. Sometimes, even love.
This, I think, is what the Open House is about, what the Open Group is about, this is something that is stirring in me. I have rejected the institutions of argument and confrontation and cruelty, they have no place in my life, and in my own small way, I will seek to go the other way, to give rebirth to timeless notions and instincts that speak to the better parts of the human spirit. This will be a long and lonely struggle, the political and corporate institutions that dominate our country seem to need to keep us apart from one another, angry at one another. Not my choice. Maria and I have been working so hard in our time together to re-connect to the world, to our families, to friends, to rediscover the sense of generosity and community that were the heart of the American experience. Perhaps we can get it back again. Small steps.
I dedicate this Open House to the rebirth of community.
Up early, getting ready for the Open House. I don’t really know what to expect, 2,000 people or 200. An important weekend for us. Sharing our new home. Giving people a chance to see Maria’s new art, Red herding, Simon cuddling. The weekend feels very good. Red graduated from therapy dog school Saturday, the weather is great, I’m getting lovely e-mails from people driving up to see us.
This morning I’ve got to walk the dogs (giving Maria some rest, she will need it) get ice and carrots, pick up a scone for her from the Round House Cafe, mow a bit more, tidy up the yard, feed cats and chickens, brush donkeys, take a photo or two, brush Red a bit. Lenore has strained her back, got to keep people from tossing sticks and balls for her. Jack Macmillian is helping with parking, he is taking down a limb hanging over the pasture gate, good man, good friend. We are getting ready on this beautiful day to share our lives, it feels so right.
Sometimes I believe in omens and portents, sometimes not. I do today. Checking the weather sites for the Open House today, I was struck by this: in the past month, only one day was expected to be sunny, dry and free from any chance of rain. In the next months’ forecast, only one day is sunny, dry, comfortable and free of rain. In this Biblical summer of rain and heat and humidity, only July 21 – today – is a perfect summer day, the day of our Open House. If we had scheduled it for last Sunday, we would surely have had to cancel – you can’t herd sheep in that kind of heat, or even ask the donkeys to be sociable, and nobody would have been in any kind of mood to browse some imaginative art or listen to talks or readings.
I do take this as an omen, the Open House has a good feeling about it, we are up and early and rushing about getting ice and carrots, excited and ready for share our bounty with those who wish to see it. Red is ready, Simon and the donkeys are ready, Maria is surely ready. Me too.
