L'Hí i JfcVJS Co* I >xi €<•<»» >
moments to reflect on the mysteries of our
being or our humongous human work. This
remains the case for us Christians, and I intuit
it’s still true for you Jews
Modem America has relegated holiness to
just a few days, split the Spirit from the moil
that controls our year I've chosen to break
with modem convention and send you this
holiday business prayer, an urgpnt request for
your activism in shaping things to come.
C Zb 4 GX5
This w inter solstice I am far from my native
Appalachia, visiting my wife Jennifer’s family
on the rugged coast of Oregon where the hills
zigzag down into the w ate r in Cannon Beach.
Here is a salty jewel in the crown of the rural
Northwest, a hearty gpod spot to scribble this
letter. The Oregpn shore has retained much of
its unmolested beauty Its beaches are
scattered with hugp rock monoliths, awesome
ancient geomorphs jutting skyward from the
foam that rolls onto the flat expanse of sand.
One of these shapes, nicknamed Haystack
Rock, is ranked among the largest coastal
monoliths m North America. As big as a
mountain, the presence of this landform
infuses the senses of the local life. At its base
thrive starfish, mussels, and anemones; and Its
peak houses gulls, cormorants, and even a few
puffins. Jennifer says. The rock resonates
Cod given space with solitary grandeur,
mirroring the aspiring souls wno make this
place home.
The raw beauty hero broods a respectful
community of artists, writers, and merchants;
it is the foundation for a seasonal tide of
discerning visitors. Unlike other travel
destinations, Cannon Beach has preserved
much of its indigenous charm. This is part of
the reason why I'm writing you, now. and
here in particular. I figure that if anyone, ray
rustic King of creation, you will know why I
dote upon this rural spot of earth.
The place’s elemental grace is reflected by
its human economy. Because much that is
sold in Cannon Beach is also produced in this
region, there is a very high quality of gpods
and services, Heightened community
aw areness resides among many of the town's
merchants, and neighbors take care to treat
neighbors to their most masterful works I've
found in my travels that local owners are
usually the best stewards of local resources,
and this is afnrmed by my experience of life
in Cannon Beach.
One of the best words I have found to
describe this sensation Is a spiritual one I’ve
adapted from your tradition. SbatinaA My
American Heritage Dictionary defines Sheklnah
as 'a visible manifestation of the divine
presence as described in Jewish theology'. I
think of it as beatific energy that radiates from
something when it is in harmony with God.
The pulse of this energy is strong when I'm
walking hand-in hand with Jennifer on the
beach at night when the electric white surf
and star freckled sky frame the massive black
shape of Haystack And there are hints of this
habitation amidst the town's flow of trade. I
testify.
In some ways this place reminds me of an
Appalachian tounst town called Gatlinburg
tw enty years ago when it was still a quaint
hamlet cradled in the Smokies. Back then, the
town complimented Its lush native environs
with an active exchangB of the arts and crafts
of resident villagers. Like most places today,
alas, Gatlinburg has been plundered by
prefabricated consumer feedlots selling mostly
imported schlock The heartworms of
business, federal chains have sucked and
squeezed the spark from local commerce and
left mostly packaging This is undeniably
evident in the downtown architecture Boxy
development has obscured the sights and
sounds of the singing streams and verdant
misty slopes that were woven with the
marketplace, features that once made family
visits to Gatlinburg so memorable
Cheesy traps like Gatlinburg sacrifice their
human heritage along with the natural glory
which emanates from the Most High
Absentee investors have built up the place
beyond capacity, supplanting Spirit with
Mammon. The marred landscape of my
memories offers me nothing but grief when I
witness the vapid virtual realities of the
present They scrape the scab of desolation
against my soul
Cannon Beach could avert the course of
development chosen by towns like Gatlinburg
Governed by fidelity to native resources, locals
here could create a wholly different definition
of progress The town is on the right track
when it refuses to grant building permits to
national chains within the town limits. The
roadsides have yet to fall victim to the
contractual images of Madison Avenue, have
yet to become just another test marketing
location for the red and yellow of McDonald's
and the red and white of KFC. Here people
dream in their own colors rather than the
industrial strength pigments of mass
consumption.
Yet the forces of commercial evil are
working hard here. Kach y e a r I return to find
few er patches of native life amidst the
absentee owned vacation homes, sterile and
vacan t that are enveloping the landscape.
Already, local trade is being displaced by
imported retail
I cannot bear to see it happen here, cannot
accept the desolation of this glorious unhewn
house of God's creation. Non violent fierce
Jesus, I pray here now, help us cast out the
money gruboing robber barons
<?\3 i
The Presbyterian in me says my solstice
arrival here was pre-destined During these
longest nights, my free will turns inward to
assess the tasks that will be necessary to
shape a spiritual destiny in the new year.
This solstice offers an occasion to reaffirm the
convictions that grow forth from S pirit to ask
that these convictions flourish into the next
season
Last week we attended an anniversary
performance of A Cfinstmas Cbrol at the local
community theatre While watching scenes of
the crotchety Scroqgp hum bugging his way
through the village market place, I was struck
by his poetic resemblance to today's m erchant
Modern business people have become Uncle
Scroogps who by pass local resources in the
pursuit of digits. Blind to the real value of
life, he huggprmuggprs his chief patrons within
the lobbiedbowels of global commerce.
If D ickens w a r e alive today he'd do well to
cast Scroqge as an executive of a
multi national corporation, perhaps an
appointed proponent of some officially
acronymed leviathan like NAFTA or GATT.
Displacing local trade with globalized
mercantilism, the modern Scrooge feeds upon
consumer lust prompted by mass advertising.
A fair title for nis modern-day screenplay
might be su p p ly ana Etanana or tPe Ltiinnad
'Once the whole world market is harmonized
with our interests’, prophesies Uncle Scrooge
as he w n n £ his meQpred, acquisitioned
hands, 'o u r pockets will runneth over. We'll
bleach the green meat and sell it under hot
red lights; w rap cheap foreign resources in
slick packages that say Fashioned In- America;
dispose of durability and invest in waste
management stocks. Oh the profits that will
be m ine the sound of metal jingling the bright
profits shining like the sun!*
Uncle Scroqge will sell anything to appease
his appetite for speedy gain He barters his
birthright for untempered want, sells off
GREAT JAVINGJ!
25 - 5 0 %
o f f most items
Patagonia jackets and fleecewear
Woolrich shirts, sweaters and coats
Rusty surfwear
Teva and Merrell sandals
and more!
America s genuine culture and replaces it with
syndicated homogeneity. Cheapness deposes
quality as his gaugB for human advancem ent
packaging is valued above content And most
of us abandon our best ways of living to
embrace these bargain basement standards of
existence,
This is certainly true for my generational
peers, us electronic tots born after 1960 who
were weaned on a blitzkrieg of beta waved
mediations. We were the first slackers to
slide through the plastic tubes of
McQonaldLand. the first to wolf down a
Happy Meal Many of the jobs created by
today's commerce have been filled by us We
drive from our homes in town or country to
work along the highways, to serve the bypass
economy which ultimately passes us by.
Savvy to these modern business working?, we
must be the ones to restore the old
beyond modern ways. Help us, Jesus, I
beseech you.
The need for this restoration is most
dramatically illustrated by today's system for
producing and selling food. Over the past year
I've heard increasing news of contaminated
chain store m eat milk, and other basic
foodstuffs. This comes as no surprise, because
1 know the average comestible consumed in
the U S. now travels 1400 miles from
production to palate When truckers have
more interaction with food than farmers, how
can we expect anything but bland farrago to
reach our gullets? Today’s stores don't
specialize tn food They sell gas.
Lord, 1 feel like a lone voice crying m the
wilderness, just another 'w h in e r in the eyes
of those status quo elders who foresake divine
love amidst the lust for revenue. When
discussing my moral concern for native
ecology, I've heard the same seniors who
taught me in Sunday school use the instant
freeze dried reasoning of 'th ere will always be
trade-offs'. Again and again, this twisted logic
has been hawked by the powerful economic
interests who control society. Fbr most of the
year, people fashion this false lcgic into the
crux of human thinking; then, on select
occasions, we don our gay Sunday apparel,
sacrifice a few tax deductable tokens in
exchange for institutional victuals, and toast a
public sacrament of piety fit for film.
Believing we can truck away accountability
for our greed wrought actions, we hump it all
on your shoulders; then wassail in that comfy
'Kodak moment' of moneyed prosperity
Deliver us from this fake grace
ex's i <ro
In my family. Spirit is understood mostly
within the context of the Judeo- Christian
tradition. Karlier this evening we ate dinner
with a friend who is a local cantor As I
explored with him the Jewish n te of
Hanukkah. I was impressed with its
interwoven themes of resourcefulness,
illumination, and miraculous destiny. We
must return to these themes in today's time of
dwindling resources, when we are broken
from the bounty of the land.
Fbr another week I will rechargB myself
away from the wilted dispirited notions of
modern commercialism, in community with
family and fnends here in Cannon Beach. As I
savor the local flavors of salmon jerky and
marionberry cobbler. I'm learning that here, as
in Appalachia, the joys of bioregion reflect a
native gpnius of life. Call this the Sheklnah,
the Holy Spirit, or by some other name - I call
it here, with passion, to guide the business
dealing? of our everyday lives
I know It is truly you who I call for
assistance. Please lift these words upwards
into the light of heaven, so God will replace
the cruel hump of Mammon with wonders like
Haystack Rock. Then surely the Shekmah will
descend upon our workdays, and jnake each
one holy once more.
A tu tU H t
The Cannon Ik »rt» I im A Compan)
A Thr Cannon B rxh
Chambtr t l ( wntTwrc*
‘• / T i c
PERFECT
Cannon Beach
Gift
Bits & Pieces
A BOOK OF KJFAO BY
239
I 'annen ‘Reach Outdoor Wear
Wemfocf^ • Cannon ‘Reach • 436-2R32
Open 10-5 daify
im un mt btttro m
R axbaaa G xay
lu.k'S TX A TH ) BY N e x t ( 9 )
C annon B kath
Ax r a n
• r All proceed« »re jiven to the
Canni<i Reach Children'» Cent«
eStill only $10
•r—
*
.