The Goose Poop Conflict

Nature versus the wrath of soccer moms

Something truly horrible happened last week in the little prairie town in which I live on the Great Plains of Turtle Island. When I read about it in the local newspaper I was shaken to the very core of my being.

First, some backstory…

I never in a million years ever wanted to live in a place like this. I am a mountain person. For most of my life I have lived near mountains and to not be able to see mountains leaves me in a state of quasi-seasickness. The land here is endlessly flat. Living here is like being on a tiny raft in the middle of the ocean, with 360 degrees of identical flat horizon. It is difficult to orient myself without mountains to look at.

I never would have planned to live here but through a series of unfortunate, tragic-comic events I found myself living here six years ago. The events are not important. I was here and I did not have the means to leave. I was stuck.

And I am still stuck here six years later. But in the the last six years I have learned a very valuable lesson. I learned that the term, ‘paradise,’ can be applied to every square inch of the planet. Whether we see it or not is a result of our individual perception.