Yellowstone helps me understand the most basic part of myself. The natural side that yearns for the tranquility of the wilderness, the good feel of unspoiled forest and wildlife. It helps me understand my place in the world and what my true priorities are. It gives me a respite from the world I live in day today, the world we all have chosen to make for ourselves, which sometimes seems so sterile in comparison.
Most people believe the struggle to preserve Yellowstone occurred a long time ago and was won. Unfortunately that isn't true. The fight to preserve our sacred wilderness continues and will continue as long as there are people. The demands of society and of population have put pressure on Yellowstone that it has never had to contend with before. Yellowstone is still and always will be at risk. Even now there are people asking the federal government to open surrounding national forest land to development. Yellowstone is not just the boundaries of the national park, it is much greater than that, and it needs the entire surrounding national forest land to survive as an ecosystem. If it is to be preserved then we must all care about it, love it and want to protect it.
If I am right about Yellowstone’s ability to take us out of ourselves, to move us and to inspire passion in us, if Yellowstone can inspire that spiritual side of us that sometimes gets lost in our daily lives so filled with technology and progress, then the fight to preserve Yellowstone takes on a much more important role than just protecting some animals and forestland. It becomes a conflict for the best part of ourselves, a war for our spiritual selves, a battle for our very souls.
We can win it, if we choose to. I fear the consequences should we lose.
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