Two New Friends [View all]

[H2O Man]

“The original instructions direct that we who walk about the earth are to express a great respect and affection and a gratitude toward all the spirits that create and support life. We give a greeting and thanksgiving to the many supporters of our own lives – the plants, the animals, the water, the air, and the sun. When people cease to respect and express gratitude for these many things, then all life will be destroyed, and human life on this planet will come to anend.”
John Mohawk, Ha-de-no-sau-nee.

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On Friday, I was bringing my best friend & wonderful wife home, after she spent a rough week in the hospital. As we approached our driveway, the vehicle in front of us began to slow down, and I noticed its blinker indicating it was also turning into our driveway. It had an out-of-state plate, which I did not recognize.

My driveway, which is a section of an old turnpike from the late 1700s, is long. When we reached the top, I got out to see who our visitors were, and what they wanted. It was two women, both retired university professors, who were looking for me. One, who taught English and literature, lived in central New York. In the early 1980s, I had been acquainted with her; we used to be an undefeated team in a once-popular board game known as Trivial Pursuit. The other, from the southwest, I recognized as one of the top archaeologists in North America.

They had sought me out because they had read an article that Will Pitt had posted on TruthOut, regarding my recent hunger strike. They had then followed the event on the internet site, Facebook. This pair of former-1960s politica;/social activists-turned university professors had come to offer any assistance that I might need in the struggle to protect the environment from the horrors of hydrofracking.

We talked for about 90 minutes, before I had to leave to a board meeting in Broome County, to plan future actions in the struggle. I opened the meeting with a traditional “greeting” that Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman had taught me. And then, I spoke about something that Gandhi taught: that when you are doing the right thing, for the right reasons, the right people will enter your life at exactly the right time.

And so it is.