What is defeat?…Nothing but the first step to something better.
– Wendell Berry
When I hiked Mount Whitney with my friends Abby and Carolyn, we did not make it all the way to the tippity-top. We made it to Trail Crest at 13, 600 feet, and according to some of the guidebooks, you can claim the mountain at this point because you made it up the 97 switchbacks (starting about 11,000 feet), and is arguably the most spectacular vantage point of the entire Mt Whitney Trail. Nonetheless, one can feel a bit disappointed in not making it all the way, rather than rejoicing in the accomplishment of this tremendous hike.
So let’s not be defeated by what we cannot do, but let us do what we can and not give up. Be steadfast.
Mt. Whitney still inspires me. It is a beautiful mountain.
When hope is not pinned wriggling onto a shiny image or expectation, it sometimes floats forth and opens like one of those fluted Japanese blossoms, flimsy and spastic, bright and warm. This almost always seems to happen in community.
– Anne Lamott, “The Impossible Will Take a Little While,” Plan B
Sometimes we have to do the work, even though we don’t yet see a glimmer on the horizon that it’s actually going to be possible.
– Angela Davis
Los Angeles has drained so much water from Owens Valley. I spent 40 years in L.A., so I am aware how we used it. Those tufa spires you see in the image above from Mono Lake, were it not for the water that L.A. has used, they would be under water.
We can be discouraged by the signs we see around us as to the damage we are doing to this sacred place on which we live. But we will not give up hope. We look for a glimmer on the horizon, and continue to raise our voices, and do what we must do today.
OPreach 