Hiking in Palm Springs and connecting to nature reminds me why we must vote
“You either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard's vote.” —David Foster Wallace
There’s an enchanting quality and paradox to the land in our area — one given both to those who rest eyes and feet upon the sand. Approaching Palm Springs on Highway 111, the Chino Cone spreads out like a colossal welcome mat, heralding a sense of arrival beneath the tranquil blue desert firmament.
I fell in love with hiking in Palm Springs, and tracing myriad trails through natural settings both serene and spectacular became an obsession. It was more nuanced than that, of course. But being a part of nature has become a compulsion.
Nowhere else in this country, or continent, can you find such dramatic disparity in ecosystems from desert floor to alpine summit. You can sense the presence of bighorn sheep in these mountains towering in the west and all around you. Mount San Jacinto enters my vision like a magnetic force. The fragrant smell of the desert and escarpment ruling the senses isolates a peaceful awareness. The mountain’s shadow moves toward me like the distant past.
Terms of art holding precise and particular definitions in specialized fields sometimes take on different and unforeseeable meanings. A force majeure is the occurrence of an event outside the control of a party reasonably preventing their performance of obligations under a contract. The force majeure of the coronavirus pandemic is one example. The election of Donald Trump is another. And whether you agree, or not, depends on personal impact and interpretation of events. Twain had a point: “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.”
Though casting a single vote in a sea of millions where majority decides the winner may seem feebly akin to asserting oneself through poetry, neighborly debate, or playing a board game slightly tinged with questions of moral obligation, in the words of Thoreau, “A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men.”
Self-expression matters — and not just through art, conversation, or gamesmanship. Bearing witness to your view by casting a vote — even if that seems as hidden and hard to find as the petroglyphs in the shadow rock of Chino Canyon — is as vital to the soul as self-expression.
Leaving Palm Springs — passing the mid-century modern Tramway Gas Station/Visitor Center, and out past the alluvial fan of Snow Creek and demarcating feature of Windy Point — into the western corridor where the ascending I-10 leaves the Coachella Valley, one may experience a feeling of loss and oblivion.
We live in a sacred and spiritual place — an authentically unique land that’s only a portion of a truly original landscape and political system — and, further out, in the world’s greater global community. It is up to each and all of us to take part in the process and protect this place — and the planet.
Playing a part in that system by voting makes a difference and heightens the paradoxical sense of individual unity where making one’s voice heard is vital and key to affecting change and creating a brighter future for our posterity.
November 8th is Election Day—be sure to get out there and vote.
Michael Seeger is a poet and educator residing in Cathedral City. Prior to his life as a middle school English instructor, he worked as a technical writer for a baseball card company and served as a Marine infantry officer during Desert Storm. Email him at Hemingwayhero@dc.rr.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Through my local hiking experiences, I'm reminded why voting matters
