Confessions of a Conversational and Political Idiot

Awhile back, I decided it would be a good idea to become more involved in some local environmental issues beyond just sending in the annual check to some of my favorite causes.  I've been kind of easing into it by doing some field work with the kids at school and putting in some time with some local folks who are already involved with trying to turn around our declining runs of local salmon and steelhead.

My lack of political knowledge has become hugely apparent, at least to me, and probably a few of the people I've been hanging around with.  I sat in on a meeting today of the American Alps Legacy Project.  This is an organization whose goal is to expand the North Cascades National Park into some areas that should have already been included in the park when it was formed in 1968.  A worthwhile endeavor, for sure.

One of the people I had a chance to meet was Polly, a woman in her nineties who has been involved in environmental advocacy for over fifty years.  She and her late husband John were instrumental in forming the very first Sierra Club chapter in Washington.  Polly told me a story of how she and her first husband met in Alaska during WWII.  So how often do you get a chance to have a conversation with someone with this kind of life history and is completely clear-thinking at that age?  I was at a loss for words or questions.  Same yesterday, when I was sitting down with Rawhide, the father of a close friend of mine.  Rawhide (yes, that's his legal name) was one of the first smoke-jumpers in the world.  He was also a seasonal ranger in Yosemite and the Tetons during the fifties, sixties, and seventies.  And yet there I was again at a loss for words and questions.

I just absolutely suck at conversation, and not just small talk.  And later I always think of a ton of things I would have liked to have said or asked.