Letter to City Council from a Man Who was Cited for Building a Dam on His Backyard Property, the Letter Pertaining to the Determination that a Beaver had in fact Built the Dam, was the Culprit

A Poem by Kherry McKay

Based on a true story. Bureaucracy is nature's enemy.

Dear City Council:

Dualism says somebody's guilty, but I think you will agree that dualism failed us here. In its wholeness, nature itself has acted, but we are nature, so we have fought against ourselves as felons of Natural Law, indicting ourselves inwardly, convicting our own consciousness. For the point here is not since it was a mere beaver that built the dam on a property that we are innocent. We are guilty of misunderstanding our own Tao, our flow. And shouldn't we take the beaver's lead by admitting that perhaps a dam was necessary at this very location?

But the deeper issue is how we've become lost, our laws reflecting nothing of the haphazards and beautiful accidents abounding in nature. For when we look at this work of creation, we must see beyond it to the eternal light of an integral life—of biology, of hydrology—all the way to our flawed ability to see the hand of Spirit, something larger than ourselves, in all things.

And thus, it is with a shaking hand that I write you today—writing in order to ask that we put away our fear for a moment and simply inhale; contemplate how this dam was given to us by a master builder, a brief gift of reflection, a remonstrance against human folly.

Sincerely, _______________