Casey Graves

Do you remember what it feels like to pretend to be one of the Goonies and go on a treasure hunt? The excitement of finding the pirates’ gold and jewels and getting chased by the bad guys while avoiding booby traps? As a kid growing up in a small community in Maryland, I remember we used to play in the woods behind our house and just let our imaginations run wild.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that” is a quote by the late, great Martin Luther King Jr. His words resonate with me. I am a white woman. Do you think these words mind the color of my skin? Of course they do not. They are words backed with serious meaning and the underlying theme is love. That love rises above all.

An early morning begins to awaken as I sit here with a cup of coffee. Outside my window two elk are trying to cross the road along the Valley Floor to rejoin their herd that made it before a few cars prohibited them from following. I watch as they contemplate the proper time to try again. With each approaching vehicle they are frightened back away from the dangers of the road and these strange motorized things that are overtaking the peace of nature in which they exist.