We Are the People of Appalachia

We are the people of Appalachia. We are made strong by harsh winters and softened by the sight of flowers dotted with butterflies, and uplifted by birds that fly across the sky. In a sense, we are Appalachia. We have a special unity with the soil, the life, and the very breath of these living mountains. While our bodies were forming within our mothers, our souls were springing forth from the beauty all around us. We have a oneness and joy in our being and a melding of spirit with our world. We experience a kinship with nature that a person existing in a man-made reality can rarely comprehend.

As children, the woods called to us with its coolness and moist fragrance. It held the delights of deer disappearing among the trees, glimpses of a fleeing fox, and the welcome beauty of a spring ephemeral. We explored colorful little mushrooms with umbrellas catching dew, and salamanders hiding beneath odd-shaped rocks. We watched in wonder as baby frogs with bandit faces emerged from vernal pools while the azure sat blue upon the cohosh. In autumn we savored the beautiful leaves as they fell gently to the ground creating a special woodland fragrance that only an October day can yield. As life lay dormant, we heard the chilling voice of the winter wind while trees with uplifted arms shivered in the cold. Life whispered all around us with secrets too deep to understand.

Our wisdom lies not in having tokens from the plastic world, for we are rich beyond our knowledge. We see instead the beauty of nature presented before our eyes. Make no mistake, we are learned in a special way, one that we share with generations of those who have known the same sensuousness, the same enchanting call of nature. We have a wisdom that strangers from synthetic places, strangers with smog filled eyes and damaged hearing and senses never developed cannot experience. We are strong, we are softened, and we are uplifted for we are the people of Appalachia.

In memory of my dad and grandfather