No one has to remind me of how privileged I am to be a resident of the Kern River Valley. I have loved this place since first visiting in the 40s when Isabella had a population of a little over 30 and Kernville a little over 100. And after moving with my grandparents to the mining claim, that is now Boulder Gulch Campground because of the lake going in, I used to pick up arrowheads as well as shell casings of the blank cartridges used in making some of the old western films hereabouts. And notwithstanding the many hardships, I recall the joys of childhood living in an environment shared only by the critters of the forest for the better part.

It is that wonderful time of year when the heat of summer finally begins to kick in; and being an old desert rat I thoroughly enjoy it, a kindness to old bones and a lean frame for which the bitter cold of winter is no such friend. In fact, preferring the heat I live without air conditioning or swamp cooler and rely only on an electric fan when needed. Another summer benefit is the marvelous, large white blooms of the nightshade plants, and the antics of the various birds at the water I provide them and at the feeders hanging from my oak trees, the quail and doves in the yard taking advantage of the seed the smaller birds spill to the ground.

But not all is serene as I watch mockingbirds chase other birds and even the resident cat because of their nearby nest, and in the balmy warmth of evening as I sit outside I’m dive-bombed by an occasional bat, keeping in mind some might be rabid, and now we even have to be aware of the West Nile Virus and spray with DEET.

Along with this time of year I watch tarantulas making the rounds, recalling one perched on the bathroom sink that surprised me as I reached to turn on the faucet one night. Uppity critter. I very carefully picked it up and deposited it outside. Home is where you don’t bump into things in the dark, but good thing I turned on the light that night. Reason enough to be very careful walking barefoot in the dark around here.

Far be it from me to question the Lord’s judgment in the Creation, but over the decades I have come to question why some things are the way they are? And no, it isn’t the size of avocado seeds as per George Burns that particularly bother me, though I admit to questioning things like the creation of mosquitoes, bears, lions, sharks (and lawyers) and their function in the scheme of Nature, it is things like why grownups are so forgetful of how things were when they were children? Why is it that so many adults seem to forget the many dangerous things that were so very attractive to them as children? Why didn’t the Lord wire this memory into the brains of adults so it would function properly as we grow older and have children of our own?

For instance, there are numerous and quite natural attractions for children among which are matches and lighters, anything that can be made to explode, tobacco, alcohol, guns, so many things adults might take for granted that are dangerous “magnets” for children. Wouldn’t it have been just as easy for the Lord to have wired some kind of genetic “obedience” code into children where a parent simply tells their child something is forbidden them and that would be sufficient? But it doesn’t work that way, and because there are so many hazards into which children are born too many think their name is “No” for the first years of their lives.

A child quickly learns adults are the most unreasonable creatures in the world. “Why can’t I have a pony in my bedroom?” So it isn’t any wonder children quickly learn questions they already know will draw a negative response from the parent don’t get asked, and the child schemes how to get that pony into their bedroom without the parent finding out.

Now I’m a well qualified scholar of the Bible and I find myself asking why did the Lord God from the very get-go make that tree so attractive and then turn right around and tell his children, Adam and Eve, they could have anything in the Garden but the fruit from that tree? It seems to me that was a setup, a loaded gun available to the children dooming them from the start, notwithstanding the beguiling serpent. Few things make something more attractive to a child than telling them it is forbidden to them; but in all fairness to children there are many that do not forsake this in adulthood.

Ok, so things begin to get theological at this point and the ongoing debate of Free Will vs. Predestination continues without let. Nevertheless, adults shouldn’t so easily forget the attraction of so many things dangerous to children, and the lesson from Genesis shouldn’t be lost on adults, that simply saying “No” is seldom enough. And the lessons of childhood should not be forgotten, lessons often learned to our hurt, like Adam and Eve, when we were disobedient.

Even granting we would not want to be robots wired for obedience, still one cannot help wishing there were easier ways of training up our children without so many dangers all about, dangers we adults are responsible for. Don’t you wish our political leadership would remember the lessons of childhood, to act like adults and be responsible for the many dangers facing all of us, the dangers that among other things they were elected to prevent?

Responsible adults don’t want a “nanny government,” however, parents are responsible to their children and those elected to office are responsible to those who elected them. We the People are not asking why we can’t have a pony in our bedroom, but we are asking why politicians don’t act responsibly, especially in the face of so many threatening dangers rather than stomping ants while the elephants are rampaging through the village, treating the electorate like children and having the temerity to call this “public service?”

Many of us privileged to live here in the glorious Kern River Valley take delight in sharing our space with the various critters and providing bird feeders for our feathered friends and water for them and others. One cannot but feel sorry for city-dwellers who at best have to make do with films, television, or screensavers of flora and fauna on their computer monitors. For my part, I don’t even mind sharing my space with the occasional “Pepe le Pew,” though this did cause a woman while visiting to remark on the presence of one that had become quite friendly.

No matter the technological advances, in my opinion “Virtual reality” will never take the place of the real thing. For example, I used to do a lot of ballroom dancing and examples of Japanese robots attempting this seemed a travesty. One cannot help applauding the inventiveness of us humans, but once you have held a lovely woman in your arms, warm, soft and sweet-scented moving together in graceful unison to the beautiful music of a waltz or tango you aren’t going to settle for a robot.

The beauty of our valley is reflective of something Emerson wrote: “That only which we have within, can we see without. If we meet no gods, it is because we harbor none. If there is grandeur in you, you will find grandeur in porters and sweeps.”

For renewal of purpose I will still watch Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald films, I still play the LPs of their music and continue to thrill to the operatic grandeur of love and romance of a simpler time that held so much hope of the future. Of such are the “gods” I harbor that sustain me, and while politicians ignore the grandeur to be found in ordinary people faithfully going about doing the menial tasks required to raise families where would America be without such ordinary people?

Having spent many years in various occupations such as machinist and construction earning a living with my hands and back, punching a clock and getting dirt and grease under my fingernails for a paycheck I am duly appreciative of the lives of the ordinary people politicians publicly applaud and privately disdain. For this reason alone we have justification to wonder what gods, if any, politicians meet or harbor? Perhaps this explains why Congress and state legislatures are not noted for the arts that sustain and advance truly civilized people.

Of this I am certain: If I had not spent those years working with hands and back my university education, the years I spent in academia would be utterly lacking in knowledge of the “grandeur in porters and sweeps,” of the real world in which the gods dwell and are met resulting in the best of the arts that sustain and advance the truly civilized, the appreciation on the part of the civilized for the art to be found in Nature that wastes nothing on superfluities, but even the various hues and scents of flowers have a distinct purpose.

But speaking of the “gods,” while no longer orthodox in Christian beliefs nevertheless I credit many of the myths and fables of the Bible having a basis in facts. Among these and other writings such as those of the Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, and Greeks is the idea of war in the heavens brought to earth, of demons and angels in conflict from which we derive the origin of Good vs. Evil; the New Testament Gospel of the transcendence of good over evil personified in Jesus resulting in the basis of Western Civilization, the most advanced of any in the world.

Because of my experience and education, particularly my education in theology and philosophy together with the sciences, some years ago I began to entertain the notion there are indeed “monsters” among us in human guise, creatures such as we find in the Bible and elsewhere that throughout history have seemed to especially delight in preying on women and children.

While at first blush seeming fanciful, there are the rare instances of some animals with the human characteristics of self awareness, even using tools like some dolphins using sponges as such. If human characteristics can be found in animals, who is to say there may not be monsters in human guise among us?

Whether due to Biblical “Children of God” and “Children of the Devil,” or the interbreeding of ancient hominids or other, I believe science may yet prove such monsters are a distinct species apart from Homo sapiens and I am presently engaged in sharing my thoughts about this with some colleagues. And while circumstances and environment are often contributing factors perhaps “bullies” are born, not made. After all, saints and devils both come from the best and worst of circumstances and environments, and neither a ghetto nor Beverly Hills is a reliable predictor of the outcome.

Whatever your own thoughts on the subject of monsters among us, at least there are still places like the beautiful Kern River Valley where you have a chance to do some “celestial fishing” in hope of catching somewhat of the thoughts of kinder gods than those reflected by so much seeming madness all about our world today. And while I can no longer make the pilgrimage to my favorite trout stream here in the valley, I’m grateful to be living in a place where I can continue casting my celestial line in hope.