The Grand Canyon Humbled Me
Quiet Contemplation in the Face of Calamity
I wasn’t ready for the feelings evoked upon seeing one of the seven wonders of the natural world. But after leaving the gift shop and making my way up the trail and to the first observation deck, I immediately understood why it was on the list.
The Grand Canyon is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. Pictures do it no justice, and neither can these words.
In a country currently putting innocent people into concentration camps at the behest of pedophilic billionaires who are stealing everything while committing mass atrocities globally, it’s hard to believe something so serene and untouched by the ugliness of fascism can exist alongside it.
We do not deserve the natural world that we disrespect, and that was my initial thought when gazing into the seemingly endless abyss of beauty.
The Grand Canyon doesn’t care about our problems or our politics.
Hate may have a habit of reverberating through society, but when we’re gone, the Grand Canyon will still be there.
There’s something so inherently comforting when looking at deep trenches of earth carved by the Colorado river over millions of years. It reminds you of your mortality, of your insignificance, in the best possible way.
The world is on fire because of the egos of insecure men. If only they took more time staring at the beauty of the world and relinquishing their own egos instead of destroying it while failing to fill the endlessly empty void inside of themselves.
I don’t know what I initially expected when the idea of visitation was first proposed.
When Rook T. Winchester calls you for assignment, you don’t hesitate. You accept immediately and know that what’s in store is going to be a hell of a lot more than advertised.
The plan was to head to Arizona and cover the proposed ICE concentration camp in Surprise. We also followed comedian Cliff Cash as he visited Turning Point USA to confront them with the Epstein files.
You can find that video here:
My mind was on the work, anything else was second.
The prospect of seeing The Grand Canyon? That was pretty cool, but admittedly an afterthought. Even when we were en route I was nose deep into my overworked computer editing. The thought of stopping was even mildly annoying and made me anxious.
And then I saw it.
And I wanted nothing more than to bask in the enormous tranquility.
Anxiety washed away. I felt a momentary peace. I felt resolve.
We ended up staying at the park lodge overlooking the Canyon. I couldn’t stop shaking my head at the sheer unbelievability of its sight.
With the constant instant access to the everyday developments of horror at the hand of authority, it’s easy to fall into despair.
But there is so much beauty to fight for. Beauty that is worth fighting for.
I was sad to leave the Grand Canyon. It was a spiritual experience. But all good things must come to an end, and the horrors of reality always seep back. You can look away for a moment, but ignoring it entirely only allows those horrors to get worse.
We ended up also visiting the Petrified Forest and Saguaro National parks on our trip through Arizona, but nothing matched up.
This whole trip has been part work, part sightseeing.
The sightseeing part has put a lot into perspective.
We as a society cannot collectively continue down the road we are going. We cannot pretend like what is happening is normal and we cannot accept the new normal those in power are creating.
We have to fight, with everything we have, to preserve the things we love while building a better world.
There is always time to rest. Time to enjoy the little things. But we cannot be content distracting ourselves from reality while things get worse.
The unsustainable system of violence and exploitation we live under cannot continue to stand, and as human beings it is each and every one of our responsibilities to do our part in the fight against it.
If you’re not fighting it, you’re working to continue it.
So fight.
For the sake of your family. For the sake of yourself. For the sake of everyone subjugated underneath the heavy thumb of genocidal fascist pedophile billionaires that don’t care about anyone or anything but their own wealth and power.
Fight the empire.
I also wanted to thank everyone who has supported my work thus far. Thank you to every subscriber, everyone who has donated to my crowdfunding, everyone who has liked and shared my work, and everyone who has given me a place to stay throughout my journeys.
I wouldn’t be able to do this work without all of you and I’m more grateful than I’d ever be able to express.
I have much more work to do. Many more longer pieces releasing soon including the upcoming documentary The Days of Dissent. I’ve had to put some of the longer projects on hold because of how much hell I’ve put my old laptop through the past year with video editing. It limps along just enough to get the short stuff done.
Once I raise enough to buy a new laptop I’ll be able to finish my feature length documentary on the movement from 2025 that grew into what we see today.
If you’d like to help me in my efforts consider becoming a paid subscriber or donating to my crowdfunding here:
Oh and also, here’s a friendly photogenic squirrel I was able to capture a photo of at the Grand Canyon:
 | A guest post by
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I’m currently living in Arizona where I’ve spent the last several years living in Sedona. The entire area is spectacular well beyond words. My emotions swell just thinking about it.
The first time I drove through Arizona, decades ago, I was overwhelmed by the natural beauty of the landscape. At the time I was on my way to live in Hawaii. Having been born with wanderlust, I’ve traveled the world extensively, and there truly is beauty and grandeur everywhere. There are good, kind, generous, gentle people everywhere.
Many years ago, one of my mentors once so eloquently described the impact of climate change as the “exaltation of the vital force of nature!” In essence humans are now parasites. We’ve collectively lost our way.
But this I know: the planet will survive, because it will shake us off. It will destroy the human species if we continue to destroy the earth, that which literally sustains us. It heals us.
As indigenous peoples everywhere have inherently known for thousands of years is that ultimately what we do to this planet, our Mother Earth, we do to ourselves.
Your words, your contemplation, your attitude, your perception give me hope for the future of this beautiful planet. Thank you.