The Psyche and the Environment: Guest Blog by Jimalee Plank: The Cure

Jimalee in action.

Jimalee Plank is one of my favorite writers, and she has been one of my greatest influences over the thirty some years we have been in a writing group together. She writes beautiful essays on the environment, on children and families, on the stuff of every day life. I am pleased to post the following guest blog in a series on The Psyche and the Environment.

The Psyche and the Environment: Guest Blog by Jimalee Plank: The Cure

THE CURE
The medical professionals have diagnosed the litany of complaint: Anxiety disorder and prescribed the appropriate pill …

A pill!

As if?

I don’t want to take a damn pill.

And I don’t want to watch another must-see film, read another prize winning book, go on a cruise to be entertained by buoyant entertainers, nor do I want a day at the spa on a well padded table with a well trained healer.

And I certainly don’t want to talk to someone about this.

Enough is enough already.

I don’t want another over-priced meal in a gaily crowded bistro. And let me just ask, while I’m ranting, are there any staid, elegant dining rooms left in this media-rife, perpetually leaning-in world of, well, everything?

Is there a beach or a campground that is just that: a beach — with maybe a lifeguard,

a campground — with a picnic table and a circle of stones for a fire. (An outhouse would do just fine. Remote is good, too.)

Is there a phone or a stereo, a t.v., stove, refrigerator, vacuum, washing machine or water faucet that simply turns on and off?

I want to stop using my brain to program and/or problem solve every single gadget from computer-phone to washing machine, and instead use it for something real; like maybe building a house from the ground up, making a raft to sail across the ocean, inventing a lightbulb that lasts a lifetime. Or even something more complicated, like encoding grifters, thieves, liars, rapists and corporations the way the dollar bill is now encoded to prevent counterfeiting. Or convincing the world that common sense makes the best sense, and that everyone deserves clean air and water, decent food and a place to dwell. And, while we’re at it, habitat for, yes, all beings, who will not be free from suffering, but might suffer less! I also want the natural rivers of the world restored, Lake Tahoe to remain blue, a healthy ozone and an end to melting glaciers and fracking for gasoline. Then, maybe, we can look forward to a world where polar bears have a chance to thrive, along with elephants and tigers and elegant dining rooms. Our children and grandchildren will thank us for that.

Why?

Because, if you haven’t figured it out yet,

NOTHING IS ITSELF WITHOUT EVERYTHING ELSE

And then I want peace on earth.

That ought to take care of my anxiety disorder.

For more info on Jimalee’s writing: jimalee_p@hotmail.com