KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
ANDREW CUTLER
Publisher/Editor
ERICK PETERSON
Hermiston Editor/Senior Reporter
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2021
A4
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Taking the
time to reflect
this holiday
his week will mark the final
countdown to Christmas, and
while there is plenty to be worried
about we hope residents of our great part
of the state take the opportunity to reflect
and enjoy their families and celebrate.
Just a quick glance at the news cycle
shows we face — as a nation and there-
fore as individuals — a host of chal-
lenges.
Inflation is on the rise. A new variant
of the COVID-19 virus is on the horizon,
considered to be even more contagious
than any other form of the infection.
These are just two simmering and
worrying issues that face us all. Both are
largely out of our control as individuals.
We also cannot forget all of those
among us who will not be able to enjoy
the type of Christmas many of us
consider to be routine. Those who are
homeless or struggling just to pay bills
won’t be able to fully participate in one of
the biggest and most significant holidays
of the year.
We can’t ignore those who are strug-
gling and must reaffirm our dedication to
help them in the coming months. Christ-
mas is a time that usually puts a spot-
light on those who are less fortunate, but,
as soon as the holiday passes, that light
shifts.
This coming year we cannot allow that
to happen and instead must continue to
focus on helping those who need a hand
up.
Yet, overall, of the challenges we face,
there is the underlying aspect of our
inherent resolve as a culture to overcome
challenges. The people of Eastern Oregon
are renowned for our ability to face and
overcome challenges.
There is indeed much to be worried
about, but as the Christmas holiday nears,
we should remember that our region still
is vibrant, still producing great people
who do great things on a regular basis.
We remain a strong group, ready to
take on problems and solve them. We
don’t buckle under unfortunate circum-
stances but find ways to win.
Unemployment is down across the
region. There are multiple organizations
that are in place to help those who are less
fortunate. The collective sense to volun-
teer and to help remains strong.
The future presents a host of obstacles,
but this week, and especially on Christ-
mas Day, we hope everyone remembers
all that is good about our region. Christ-
mas allows us to take a collective deep
breath and to reflect. Let’s do that.
T
EDITORIALS
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East
Oregonian editorial board. Other columns,
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opinions of the authors and not necessarily
that of the East Oregonian.
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Transmuting moments of vulnerability into magic
ALEX
HOBBS
PASTURES OF PLENT Y
’ve been thinking recently about
vulnerability. What it looks like, feels
like, entails.
If vulnerability is the multiplier, what
do we multiply it with, what is the prod-
uct, the outcome of this action? Cour-
age adjacent, vulnerability asks to shed
light on the innermost workings of our
hearts and mind and past. The process
then is honesty and bravery in spite of the
nagging, intrusive thoughts.
It’s a realignment, for those of us who
have fought against and lost many times
over to the self-preservation instinct
which tells us to harden ourselves against
disappointment.
There is no guaranteed upshot. Only
ripples. Ever-expanding. A seed buried
in the cold hard earth.
In 2009, I was 19. A sophomore
English major whose identity was fully
wrapped up in the brick-clad buildings of
academia. Of American literature anthol-
ogies and annotations, of my column in
the university newspaper, in booze-laden
conversations, only undergraduates have
once they become equipped with the
multisyllabic language of romanticism
and philosophy.
Before then, existing on a college
campus seemed beyond contempla-
tion. Unobtainable. Freshman year had
sputtered to a close, but my sophomore
year held vast potential. A fog had lifted
I
and in its stead, the sun, lionhearted and
lemony, blossomed.
But in October of that year four incon-
trovertible lines, like Roman legions
conquering Gaul, spread across the
planes of two pregnancy tests. I capped
the tests and placed them gently in my
pocket. It was raining that night and
would continue to rain for some time.
That moment has been with me on
repeat since its occurrence. Echoing in
perpetuity. A constant companion. The
clarity with which I instantly understood
my path still befuddles me to this day.
My hand had been forced and I would
deal with the repercussions as they came,
but at that moment I knew what I would
do despite the control which would soon
be wrested from me.
I would keep my son because I could
see him with such clarity that it seemed
almost preternatural. Marrying this
sense of fate with grief is a strange expe-
rience. Simultaneous blooming and
wilting. Stranger still is purposefully
walking forward with the understanding
that a giant precipice nears, that soon you
will be unable to halt the momentum, and
that over the edge is all that lies ahead.
That fall, I moved back home to East-
ern Oregon where I waited for my son
to be born into the spring. I met him
earthside in May 2010. He was round and
perfect and had long strands of dark hair
(those would later be spun to gold). I can
still feel his cheeks squish beneath my
lips like a mud-luscious puddle.
Accompanying me at this moment,
however, was grief. Unimaginable,
all-consuming, flailing, despairing grief.
It shrouded everything it touched with a
blackness so complete that when I look
back on that day nearly 12 years later, I
feel heartbroken for that girl and her baby
— alone in a sterile room, save the doctor
and nurse. Moving forward despite the
ground opening up and swallowing her
whole. The breaking of the world and
torrential rains — too much to bear now.
That rain, however, nourished the
seedlings left behind by the rotten fruit
— the grief, the sadness. I didn’t under-
stand the anatomy of a blossom then.
Soon those seedlings would germinate
and take root. They would twist and
embrace and stretch and fill the hollow
ground with hope and with gratitude.
With love.
Why share this story?
We are complicated creatures capa-
ble of holding simultaneous conflict-
ing beliefs, emotions, wants, and needs.
Accepting suffering as a gift is a radical
act of vulnerability. So is arriving at the
understanding that those complicated
moments will irrevocably change us.
Moments in time that you cannot undo,
words that cannot be unsaid, emotions
that can no longer be neglected. Step-
ping into that reality is terrifying but the
alternative is scarier — a denial of self. I
cannot change the past no more than an
alchemist could translate mercury into
gold. But I can transmute moments of
vulnerability into magic.
We can plant the seeds and hope the
fruit that they bear is sweet.
———
Alex Hobbs is a former educator turned
full-time homeschooling mom. She has a
degree in political science from Oregon
State University.
and carnivore management. Health,
human safety and protection of our
local economies is an important part of
that balance, as is the maintenance of
healthy big-game populations through a
transparent, thoughtful and professional
management approach. The vilification
of wildlife species and these vigilante
attacks undermines this management
approach.
Wolves and other carnivores serve
an important role in maintenance of
the health and vitality of our big game
populations, as well as the many small
carnivores and scavengers that make
up our collective wildlife heritage. In
addition to playing a role in ecology,
predators have long been respected in
tribal culture. They are prominent in our
stories, coyote being the most famous,
but wolves and others play a part in some
of those stories handed down for many
generations to provide teachings and
lessons as examples.
Predators are esteemed as hunters,
and often used in tribal members’ Indian
names and tribal place names. They
are prominent features in our regalia,
including sacred eagle feathers, talons,
and for some, even the hides and claws
of mammalian predators are worn. All of
these predators are threatened by indis-
criminate acts like poisoning.
We hope the responsible parties
are caught and held accountable for
their actions and encourage any others
contemplating such measures to please
reconsider.
Kat Brigham
CTUIR Board of Trustees chair
YOUR VIEWS
Eight wolf poisonings
an attack on all wildlife
The loss of eight Eastern Oregon
wolves to poisoning over the last year
is an assault on all things living. It
represents an indiscriminate attack on
all our wildlife. All wildlife, avian and
mammalian, carnivores and scaven-
gers, are put at risk by these selfish
acts.
These animals represent import-
ant pieces of a healthy, naturally-func-
tioning ecosystem. Their short sighted
and illegal extermination threatens the
balance and function of that ecosystem.
The Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation supports
a balanced approach to wolf recovery