I am sitting at my desk, safe and warm and dry, in the
morning sun that melts my heart and soul.
My laptop, house, heat, hot tub, car and bike are powered from panels on
the roof despite the trees, clouds and snow (optimally). No coal, oil or gas is needed (theoretically). I’m dinking a coffee that appears perfectly
at the press of a button while I eat a bagel born appropriately from NYC water
and fittingly baked locally, like me. Think
globally but shop locally. I wear my
favorite clean pullover and lined pants, thanks to the e-washer and dryer that
uses mountain spring water and delivers it back to the river after it is miraculously
cleaned. I can watch last night’s hockey
game and see the puck on the giant, Smarter than me, TV in the other room where
my dog sleeps on a heated bed and my wife knits by the fire. Life is good.
We installed a fancy microwave oven below our new designer-slate
kitchen counter and accidentally drilled a hole in the back of the refrigerator
to plug it in, but we opened up tons of priceless counter space. This location
is key since despite all our efforts we have never been able to move our
parties out of the kitchen. On the
bright side, we measured once and cut twice to adjust the old cabinet doors that
fit so perfectly that the soothing sound of their precision closing is music to
my ears.
Friends and family send me pictures, notes and messages on my
phone that I can choose to ignore and reference at a later time. In the background, my computer is transcribing
dozens of instructional videos for me while Ai summarizes and critiques them for
work while it plays my favorite songs on the house stereo, remembering where it
left off every time I turn it on. There is peace in my neck of the woods, on Gods
little half acre.
The windows and doors have been repaired and replaced to keep
the cold out and the heat in, or vice-versa in the summer, (how do it know). The surrounding trees allow the winter sun in
and the summer sun out and the morning coolness precludes the need for air conditioning
for now, since those morning temps have gone up an astonishing 10 degrees in 50
years. Even though the Federal Infrastructure
and Climate bills have funded a third of my improvements with tax credits, we
will not be able to slow these local and global temperatures trends if we Drill
Baby Drill. We will have to adapt resiliently
to maintain any semblance of sustainability.
In the garage is an electric mower with a leaf and snowblower
since in this new world without immigrants we will have to vacuum our own
houses and clean our own toilets, rake our own leaves, cut our own grass and
blow our own snow. The work involved in
that can be classified as exercise and the instant visual gratification of that
is comforting. In our modern delusional
world, if our lawns and driveways are clean, then all must be right with the planet. Our compartmentalization of reality into
small, manageable segments we can comprehend is a blessing, for if we could
ever comprehend the sum-total of the world’s reality, we would never stop crying.
So, take credence in the little things that make you happy when all else is falling apart. We are lucky. That doesn’t mean we should not resist and rage against the machine, to stop the insanity, limit growth, pay living wages and provide affordable housing. We should not be afraid to stand up for what is right and for the other people who haven’t found their place yet in this topsy-turvy town, let alone this crazy chaotic world.
Don’t let it bring you down, its only castles burning.
Find someplace that’s yearning, and you will come around.
Keep Park City Cool, Keep Park City Kind.
Matthew Lindon. Snyderville Utah
Waterandwhatever.com
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