Good Neighbors

As the fall and winter seasons continue to approach here in Northern Minnesota, the Gunflint Trail becomes less and less dominated by tourists, campers, and canoeists, and more and more by the wildlife. The true calm of the wilderness has officially set in and the inhabitants of the woods are becoming more mobile as they prepare for the oncoming winter. This has been very obvious with the movements of our local wolfpack. Packs have very large territorial area and they patrol them regularly, meaning that we see our local pack almost on a weekly basis. I was driving down the trail only a few days ago and saw the alpha male of the pack and another female making their rounds across the landscape.

The staff here at camp have become quite familiar with the Alpha male because of his appearence and because of his demeanor. I personally have seen him at least four times, several times within feet of him. While most of the wolves in the pack are of the typical white and gray coloration, the Alpha is dark brown and black, making him very recognizable, bordering on mysterious and frightening. In addition, he is a good 15 to 20 pounds heavier than the other wolves in his pack. However, his most distinguising characteristic is his personality and character. Most of the pack is shy and are generally nervous around people, but the Alpha always makes a point to stop and make eye contact with virtually everything in his path, even if it is a moving vehicle. Essentially it is his job to be big, dark, and intimidating, and he is an expert at that job. His presence and bold personality make him a very dynamic character on the Gunflint, and my personal encounters with him have given me a very distinct respect for him.

These encounters and ponderings have lead me to think more about the "neighborhood" that I live in. Often times when we think of our neighbors we think of the people that live near us, or even the people around us on a communal, maybe even a global scale. Also, as we begin to know our neighbors better, we begin to know them much better, even to love them and care about their well being. Caring about our human neighbors is extremely key to living a full and godly life, but often times I feel like it is easy to ignore our natural neighbors in the process. Do we always greet or care about the old oak tree that you walk past everyday on the way to work? What about the pair of cardinals that visit the bird feeder everyday, or the clump of mushrooms that silently feast on the dead tree in the backyard? It may seem odd and almost crazy to think of nature in this way, but I think that for me it is key to gaining a better understanding of my context within the land and area that I live in and the relationships that I have with the things around me, whether they be the people that I dearly love, the wolves that I see patrolling the roadsides, or the pines, birches, and firs that I pass by everyday on my way to begin the work day. In the same way that human neighborhoods are full of differnet characters and personalities, our natural neighborhoods are full of dynamic and unique personalities as well, ones that we can greatly learn from if we are only willing to listen. If we strove to be good neighbors to not only our human neighbors, but all of our living neighbors, what kind of insight would we have then?