Early Fireworks

Yesterday morning, I saw a towering plume of smoke south of Ellinwood, KS. Dry weather has sparked several wildfires and 100-degree temperatures are expected for the rest of the week. Thus, there will be no fireworks in several southwestern Kansas counties this 4th of July. However, nature has it’s own way of inciting ohhs and ahhs. Grasslands are alive with purple prairie-clover, blue vervain, and star bursts of yellow sunflowers; plumes of golden wheat wave in the wind like sparklers, glimmering in the warm sunlight.

From the lakes of Minnesota, to the hills of Tennesee, cultural landscapes are what truly instill a sense of American pride. According to the Cultural Landscapes Foundation, “culture landscapes provide a sense of place and identity; they map our relationship with the land over time; and they are part of our national heritage and each of our lives.” In Kansas, wheat and sunflowers are the iconic symbols of the man and nature.

I’m proud to be an American, but what is my sense of place and identity? I remember my involvement in 4-H. Our club, the Grandview Willing Workers, performed a skit to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” for a talent contest. Each person wore one of the many uniforms depicting the great American dream: a firefighter, nurse, and soldier. My brother and I clashed together and shouted, “we’re going to be football players!” I played little league baseball and football, but my relationship with the land mapped out a different path.

After high school I joined the Minnesota Conservation Corps youth program; I worked on the Superior Hiking Trail, blazed a trail with renowned nature photographer Craig Blacklock, and earned the Hercules Award for digging a hole in the ground.  With a pick axe and shovel, I dug through 6 feet of loose bedrock to help construct a new pit latrine at YMCA Camp Menogyn, located in the Boundary Waters Canoe and Wilderness Area. Experiences, like these, will continue to shape who I am. In closing, here is a favorite quote of mine:

“Life is good to those who know how to live. I do not ever hope to accumulate great funds of worldly wealth, but I shall accumulate something far more valuable, a store of wonderful memories. When I reach the twilight of life I shall look back and say I’m glad I lived as I did, life has been good to me.”
~ Sigurd F. Olson