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Sunday Thought: The Spirit of Place

We spent a beautiful 3 days in the Ohio Valley this
weekend. It was sunny and the temperature hovered in
the high 70s and low 80s. Spring was bursting forth
everywhere you looked, including in the hearts of the
people who live here and call this place home.

Martins Ferry, St. Clairsville, Wheeling, Elm Grove,
West Wheeling, and every place in between looked
better to me than they have in many years. This is
the place I could hardly wait to get away from in the late
1960's because it was so depressed, mean-spirited,
and backward in its ways.

Why was this visit so special? Yes, the weather helped.
And participating in the James Wright Poetry Festival
was very stimulating both intellectually and emotionally.
But the real difference was that I felt the "spirit" of the
place, which is something I have not experienced here
since my childhood years. Martins Ferry and the other
communities nestled along the Ohio River were open
to me and I was open to them in a new, more spiritually
renewed way.

Nature is the Ohio Valley's biggest asset, after its people.
This is truly a beautiful place with its green rolling hills,
its forests, streams and rivers, fields, and flowers. These
are the things that filled me with the spirit of life as a
young boy growing up here. They touch me deeply even
today.

Yes, the Ohio Valley remains a poor place where many
people feel disenfranchised and left behind by the coal
mines and mills that used to provide a living for area
residents, but I felt "life" in the Valley. Its spirit remains
very much alive.

Nature, poetry, art, imagination and many other things
can help to keep the spirit of the Valley freely flowing
through these soft rolling hills. As we were touring the
area yesterday, I said to Mary that Nature has taken
back what man had taken away from this place over
the past century. It's a good thing Nature does reclaim
what is rightfully Hers and what belongs to all people.
And yes, that means that death must occur for new
life to occur, but that is a reality for everyone and
evey place. The economy that dominated the people
and physical reality of this place had to die off to
create a fresh new canvas on which the future can
be painted.

So, I celebrate the spirit of the Ohio Valley--the place
that James Wright and many others have written so
passionately about over the years, and the place I will
always carry around inside of me. I came back home to
read a poem, and received so much more.

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