The Edge of Chugach
by Susan Haley

There is a real Garden of Eden; a place where serenity and life, all life, co-exist yet today in America. One watching the news, combing the Internet hyperbole about the State of the Nation or simply attempting to survive in the resultant chaos of ignorance, corrupt government and power greed, may doubt that, but it is a fact. I just spent a little over a month there, healing from some reoccurrence of health issues. And most beneficial, being further educated, a life-long process if one is attuned to it. Perhaps, it’s part of the Divine Evolution of things.

A portion of the Eden of which I speak, though, is in another state, the State of Mind. No, I’m not going to get all metaphysical here, but that, too, is a fact. I read a profound statement yesterday. Not sure of the source; I believe it was on an auto-signature on an email. It said, “If you have bad thoughts in your mind, it’s because you put them there.” It was, for me, like a stamp of “genuine” on a realization that came to me at the edge of Chugach.

Chugach dwells in Alaska, in the heart of a National Forest nestled at the feet of the Chugach Mountain chain, a part of the Brooks Range which is part of the Alaskan Range. It’s difficult to ascertain sometimes where one range ends and another begins as Alaska consists of mountains, forests, snow, ice, and strolling glaciers and their silt-milky wild rivers. And, in summer, the most magnificent display of wildflowers my eyes have ever encountered.

We, in the lower forty-eight tend to think of all Alaskan natives as Eskimos. The native peoples are somewhat offended by this labeling as it is like calling all Native American indians, Apaches. The natives of Alaska also had individual tribes and cultures depending on the region in which they dwelled. The Chugach peoples of southcentral Alaska comprise a collection that touches the heart and spirit as well as the mind. They illustrate traditional beliefs of a unique group that blends Yupik Eskimo, Aleut, Athabascan and Tlingit cultures. The word “Chugach” may have derived from the Alutiiq meaning “people way over there” as Cook Inlet separated them in the Kenai Peninsula region thousands of years ago.

It was said that these native peoples lived “on the edge of human habitat,” including the now Siberians and Canadians, all referred to as Eskimos. They believed strongly in the Spirit of Nature and that all living things had souls. If a tree was felled or an animal was taken in the hunt, they blessed it for its sacrifice and not one sinew was wasted. They still live that way in most areas. I shudder to think what must go through their minds when they see trophy hunters invade and shoot wolves from airplanes for sport. Native taxidermists in Alaska do most of their work on already old, injured perished animals then used in educating the people in museums and cultural centers. Only the transient whites kill animals for pelts, profit and fun.

Having arrived in Fairbanks on Summer Solstice replete with festival honoring the heavens and the sun bringing the short growing season, I returned to Florida on Thursday after exactly one month of daylight, very cool temperatures and re-learning the art of layering clothing. And silence! Silence, but for the calls of the forest creatures. One month in Eden. I de-planed in Sarasota still donning my two sweaters, my new Alaskan fleece jacket and very cool Alaskan Bush hat. Exiting the airport, I ran into a wall of lingering 96 degree heat, 98 percent humidity, the darkness of a night sky and NOISE! People almost rudely milling for their luggage, their transportation, exhaust spewing from the shuttle busses and sirens blaring on US41. It was that “back to earth” feeling. I could almost feel the tiredness already creeping back in my soul. That is, IF I let it.

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But a travelogue, a history lesson, a nature treatise, or glaring opposites  of a spectrum are not the subject of this essay. The subject is simply this – I learned something. Our world of stress and hard times is self-created to a point. Communally created to another point. We ARE responsible for the thoughts we put into our minds. That’s not to say we need sit around in a meditative trance, ignore the wrong doing, or remain eternally blissful and calm. That is not even humanly possible. Yet, it is to say we must learn to deal with it productively. What the world lacks more than anything, including jobs, services, resources, security, God in our lives or government OUT of them is respect. Plain old simple respect. Respect for each other, other cultures, the earth, the animals, the weather, the religions or lack of them. Every bad or evil thing stems from lack of respect for SOMETHING.

In Alaska, I learned that respect and love are not two different things. They are the same concept and cannot exist one without the other at least in degree. To maintain a political tone to this column, I’ll phrase it this way. We may not love or respect an element or part of our government, but to have any order we must at least respect our Constitution and go about change with good and positive thoughts in our mind rather than power resting on the failure of another. We should ALL strive for the same things and know what our Constitution is all about, then honor it whether we agree with everything or not. There’s nothing wrong with individuality either. We only must respect everyone’s right to that same individualism regardless if it is different than ours. I’m speaking in a species voice here, not just an American voice or an individual’s voice. I truly believe that we are all but fibers in a huge Universal web designed by a Supreme or Divine Force. If one fiber or strand is destroyed by the actions or thoughts of another, the entire system, as we know it, goes down. Just think about that.

Alaska IS our last American frontier! There are some precious wilderness areas in the continental states and the oceans, too, though threatened. If we do nothing else as a generation, we better demand, enforce world wide, no matter the cost, their preservation or we’ll leave our progeny a wasteland where even simple survival will be a drastic challenge. These are the kinds of subjects I’d like to discuss here for the good of all with input welcome. I’m frankly amazed, at what entered my head on a simple trip to simpler times.

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"Always be a poet, even in prose." - Charles Baudelaire
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