Archive for October, 2013

You can’t shut this down

Monday, October 7th, 2013

[IMAGE] angry Bald Eagle

…click to listen:

…about the music

REMEMBRANCE, live premiere, August 2013 by the U.S. Army Strings, Major Tod. A. Addison, conductor, at the Church of the Epiphany, Washington, D.C.

I’m blessed to live in a rural neighborhood that abuts one of the most spectacular gems of the United States National Park Service.

[IMAGE] American Camp

As of last week, the entrances to this, and all other such parks in the nation, have been blocked.

[IMAGE] road block

In response, I submit the following letter. Each point is accompanied by a photograph I’ve taken from, in, or of, the aptly named American Camp National Historical Park. Normally I would provide a link that readers could click to learn more, but alas, the National Park Service website has been taken down.

[IMAGE] NPS shut down

To Those Members of the U.S. Congress who voted to hold hostage the government services you were elected to oversee:

As a U.S. citizen and taxpayer, I write to readjust your perspective, by reminding you of how little power a politician actually possesses.

You have loaded your ideological weapon with the ammunition of irrationality and meanness, and you have fired it in the direction of the innocent. This dangerous combination of both the ability to aim well, and the lack of wisdom to know better than to do so, is currently preventing countless U.S. government employees from being able to pay their bills. Since the National Park Service is under federal purview, you have also shown that you can punish everyone else, whether from the U.S. or abroad, wishing to commune with our nation’s natural treasures.

Unwilling to accept the results from the same democratic process that placed you in your office, you have thrown your tantrum, and have effectively, if temporarily, shut down your own country.

But you can’t shut down the sunrises that stir American Camp’s horizon,

[IMAGE] sunrise



nor the sunsets that drape the Park’s peninsula with pastel affection.

[IMAGE] Golden Point



You can’t shut down the navy blue clouds,

[IMAGE] blue clouds



or the grey ones,

[IMAGE] grey clouds



or the orange ones,

[IMAGE] orange clouds



or the geometric ones,

[IMAGE] shelf clouds

whose journey to an unseen future endlessly shifts the light and shadows of American Camp.

You can’t shut down the sunshine,

[IMAGE] sunny vista



nor the fog,

[IMAGE] fog across American Camp



nor the kiss of the full moon on the weathered fingertips of ancient trees,

[IMAGE] moonrise



nor, for all your presumed power, can you stop the moon’s unfolding tongue from lapping at the Park’s waters: a glorious scene, witnessed by that most American of birds, the Bald Eagle.

[IMAGE] reflection



You can’t shut down the waves barreling toward the Park’s shores,

[IMAGE] storm waves



nor the massive logs of driftwood violently thrown upon American Camp’s pebbly beaches.

[IMAGE] driftwood on South Beach



You can’t shut down the rainbows that passionately spear the point,

[IMAGE] rainbow over Golden Point



nor can you blockade the storms that remind the cliffs that they cannot step out of the way.

[IMAGE] crashing waves



You cannot shut down the vistas,

[IMAGE] vista from American Camp



or the butterflies,

[IMAGE] American Camp butterfly



nor can you coax the secrets from these forests,

[IMAGE] American Camp woods



or from the mountains that frame this National Park.

[IMAGE] Cascades beyond American Camp



You can’t cordon off the Great Blue Heron’s tarmac,

[IMAGE] Heron landing



or prevent American Camp’s rugged coves from grinning at the Olympic National Park across the Strait.

[IMAGE] American Camp coves



You can neither halt the hypnotic motion of American Camp’s protected grasslands,

[IMAGE] grassland in American Camp



nor the chill of the snow that tickles them.

[IMAGE] snow in American Camp



You cannot shut down the unruly, un-policed, rioting wildflowers,

[IMAGE] wildflowers in American Camp



or the unkempt beauty of the Park’s sweet foxes.

[IMAGE] island foxes in American Camp



You can’t even stop the ones who, despite the park closure, defiantly visit the placard for Senator Henry M. Jackson, Conservationist at Large (he happened to be a Democrat).

[IMAGE] napping fox in American Camp



You cannot shut down the killer whales who hug American Camp’s shores,

[IMAGE] Orcas in American Camp



or the peaceable deer who graze its land,

[IMAGE] Black Tail deer in American Camp



and I assure you, Congress members, that though you can barricade my neighbors and me from this abundant acreage, you are powerless to ever, ever block our national bird from his home.

[IMAGE] Bald Eagle



I am fortunate that I can publish this pictorial letter so that others may have a tiny, pixelated glimpse of the beauty that Congress, in its shortsighted grab for elusive control, has temporarily wrested from us.

And it is most ironic that I type all of this to you, on Monday morning, October 7th, 2013, with the nation’s noble-feathered emblem standing calmly in front of me. We are both gazing out to American Camp.

[IMAGE] Remembering



My wish for you, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and for all elected officials, is that you will remember what our beloved Bald Eagle represents, and more importantly, that you will remember who you were sent to Washington to represent. “E Pluribus Unum:” out of many, one. Unity. One nation. One which is a Democracy, in which when the majority of citizens and leaders have voted for something such as affordable health care insurance for everyone, then despite your political or personal preferences, you must uphold the will of the people.

This is not about politics, it is about decency. In the best of circumstances, you are stewards and caretakers. Like all of us, you, Congress members, must think of the needs of others, and protect those who cannot take care of themselves.

[IMAGE] Bald Eagle and chick

Along with the photographs of the national park I love the most, at the top of this post there is a link to my string orchestra piece, REMEMBRANCE, which was beautifully premiered this summer by another gem of this nation: the U.S. Army Strings, who are among the very best musicians in the country. I am proud to have an association with them and with other ensembles in the U.S. Armed Forces, and it is my hope that these groups will soon be able to return to the exceptional music-making for which they have been hired. Long after history has forgotten the squabbles of politics, it will always remember the culture of a civilization. Please cherish the arts we have nutured in the United States.

And finally, members of Congress, I hope that you have enjoyed these photos. Should you ever visit San Juan Island, it would be my pleasure to show you any of these stunning scenes, for they are considerably more remarkable in person than in pixels.

But for the moment, these pixels are the only access to this beauty that most people have.

Sincerely,
Alex Shapiro
San Juan Island, WA

[IMAGE] Bald Eagle
Our national emblem of freedom, above the Salish Sea.