We do what we can when called upon

In the crystallin vastness of a starry night, if you or I look up into the billions of pin-pricks of light and try to comprehend the enormity of space and time and our place in it……

We can feel totally insignificant.

But…. We have a choice.

We can let our undeniable “smallness” crush our spirit and live out our lives feeling powerless, doing nothing but sleep walking through the days knowing it “will all end anyhow, so why bother”.

Or…. We can connect with this vastness and rejoice that we are graced by the magic of being alive at this very moment of time with a body made up of the very stardust that inhabits all. Wow. How lucky are we? We are literally linked to everything in the universe.

So I sit beneath Gandalf’s Staff in the Styx Valley of the Giants waiting to meet up with the UNESCO World Heritage advisors — flown in via helicopter — to explain to them why these ancient forests should never be logged; even for the speciality timbers I might want to use. Simply put: There is no piece of art that is as beautiful as the standing old growth tree.

But why me? Why am I one of only three people chosen to talk on this issue.

Basically, who gives a shit as to why? The thing is, is that I was asked to do this. So I put down my tools in my studio and drove the eight hour round trip for a 30 minute session beneath this forest elder.

From each according to their ability. To each according to their need.

Yes, in many ways I am but a bit player in the role out of the magic carpet of life, but in this moment of time, our ancient forests need our collective help.

I’ll do whatever I can, no matter how seemingly small.