Words of Wisdom

This weekend I spent a long time thinking about the Columbia River Crossing. I talked to friends, Lawyers, commuters, teachers, and artists. I am personally against the project, because I value nature over any sort of human project, because I hold this opinion, I've had little understanding of the reasons that some people and organizations support the bridge.

However, after a weekend of reflection, conversation and rest, I realized something profound: sometimes, there isn't a middle ground to be found in discourse. As a compassionate environmentalist I've spent most of my life believing that the reason some people support projects like the CRC is due to a monumental misunderstanding. When in fact, in their opinion, I am against the project because I have a fundamental misunderstanding of the importance of freeway travel.

Today as I biked to school I came to interesting conclusion. Sometimes, it's impossible to get someone else to agree with the environmentalist perspective. People develop unique perspectives because we all come from different walks of life. Although I value nature and conservation, other people value commerce and economic development. Therefore in a situation like the proposed I-5 bridge, view points like mine and view points of those wanting to build the bridge, cannot intermingle because our perspectives our derived from opposing values.

One of the amazing things about living in the Pacific Northwest, is that although many of us hold opposing views about environmental issues. All of us, to some degree or another love this place. We all appreciate the beauty and majesty of landscape we are blessed with. So today, I ask anyone who takes a second to read this post, to take a moment and look around and enjoy as you go about your daily activities.

Take some time to think about why you love the Pacific Northwest. I will be doing so, because I want to be in harmony with everyone living here. The hikers, bikers, the bears, loggers, deer, truckers, bald eagles, teachers, store clerks, construction workers, Red Woods, doctors, lawyers and Doug Firs.

Although we all have different ideas about how to best use this place we call home, at least we agree on one thing, it is our home and we want to continue living here. My point is, that we all want to live in this beautiful place and we all want to do so in a different way. So enjoy your day and keep doing what you do with symbiotic harmony. If we all do this together, we just might be able to keep living here together for a long time.

Tim