How To Cut Today’s Gordian Knot

National Parks are Sword of Truth

My sunrise was overcast today, so how serendipitous that Rider Randolph Proksch who relishes his job driving across the US sent us this picture of spectacular sunrise outside Winnemuca, NV on Saturday morning.

Happy day beloved Joy Train Rider! Bless you! I hope you receive that as an actual feeling of unrestrained love I’m sending out to you, and you’re doing well.

Yesterday one of my best friends who has been a park ranger for more than 30 years told me that as much as he loves the parks and is so familiar with them, he finds my perspective amazing because I bring so many pieces together. I laughed so hard and told him this was the best thing he could say to me. I know multiple elements of the national parks sector from having voluntarily served on the boards of many related organizations - - advocacy, concessions, tourism among them.

The national parks hook me on a human level as they make me feel infinitesimal and yet part of something so grand. They hook me on the level of an American - that my country could contain so much beauty, (unfortunately this feeling, corrupted as Manifest Destiny, had disastrous results for the continent and its people) and they hook me as a Black American - that my ancestors left such an incredible record to inspire us to engage today’s fight.

The National Park System contains places of Black Americans’ exploits on land, air and sea are so incredible, it wrenches my heart that everyone doesn’t know about them. Historically; less than 20% of the workforce and visitors to the National Park System are Americans of color, though its mission is to “protect . . . for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations. . .”

I’ve concluded that one of the reasons the national parks don’t get more traction is because the term conveys frivolity, so many people dismiss them, as their daily lives provide little opportunity to engage in frivolous things. But you only think that way until you see your first one.

A young man from a poor neighborhood in Los Angeles told us at Grand Canyon National Park in Y2K. “When you talk about national parks, what I think about is the park down the street where mostly addicts hang out. People in my neighborhood need to see these places, to know that life is not just from the courthouse to the jail.”

So when the story of Alexander the Great and the Gordian Knot came up in my studies yesterday, I burst out laughing. Alexander got rid of the knotty problem by slicing right through it, proving that things can be simple if you have the right approach. The National Park System is the equivalent of Alexander’s sword to the “Gordian Knot” of lies and misinformation being entwined around Americans today. So what if we can cut through all the noise and bring people to the national parks experience, and vice versa so they can actually experience the inspiring  truth of our nation’s history and potential? This is my overarching goal.

(Please join me by taking a ticket on the Joy Train, commenting and supporting my efforts._