Remains of the Past

Several years ago, I traveled through the southern part of Oregon and the northern part of California. This is an area rich in history, though great natural spaces remain. As President Barack Obama would write, open spaces that afford “pleasures that cost nothing, belong to no one, and are accessible to all.”

Just north of the California border, there was a forgotten town showing evidence of a cherished community. The photo below is from a graveyard I found there.

My own life passes in structures that may someday be left behind, but I felt something beyond self-interest in my willingness to extend to the dead the rights of the living.

Above is a photograph of a former military site on the California coast, built for the second World War. I find it easy to wonder at the people who came and went before. The urgencies they faced, the pressures they felt, seem accessible in my imagination. Mark Twain wrote that travel is “fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness”. Signs of sacrifices past make me feel closer to my limitations, but open to a broader future.