It is Not Easy Being Green

Ghost Elk

The title comes from a Kermit the Frog song about being different, being green. Today in political speak it means being an environmentalist and believing in not using single use plastics among other things. In a way maybe Kermit is a lot like an environmentalist these days. It isn't easy being green. But I have felt like a frog in a shrinking pond much of my life so I should be used to it by not. And if it is me alone, I am comfortable in my own green skin, except for those brief glimpses of myself when I am shocked at what I see.

My sister, also a photographer, does not like the image above. She is bothered by the fact so little of it is in focus. Frankly, that is what I love about it. Of 90 photographs I took on a day's adventure out of my safe valley It is among my two favorites. One of eight I chose to pay to have printed on canvas. My printer is also an artist and a friend. She liked it too. We both saw past its lack of technical photographic merits, or lack thereof, to its artistic statement. It is those little moments which lead me to believe other green people in my shrinking pond.

Last night gathered around a table of friends, acquaintances, and just met individuals, the new person beside me agreed with my statement about fall came to New Mexico in the middle of August.

"And the air smells different," she said.

"Yes, and is somehow fresher," I replied feeling an instant connection.

Clearly we had moved beyond the discussion of what weird weather we were having this summer. It isn't easy being green.

Depending on the company I am with I use the excuse that I am an artist. Or that I am a recovering CBT victim. My sister, the nurse as well as photographer, tells me I should put that one to bed after 18 years. I joke that the head injury knocked me into my right brain. In truth I believe it only gave me permission to stay there. Long before that I was the person who stopped dating people people who ignored me when I lost myself in a sunset. Clearly we had nothing in common.

But do I have that much in common with that many people? Clearly nothing with the 43% of the population who voted for and support Trump. But I am happy being green even if it isn't always easy.

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