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Speaker 1: Ernie is my Blue Crown conyer. For over thirty years,

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he's overlooked this forest right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina.

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I mean every day, Ernie sits in his beautiful home,

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overlooking the trees, the nearby lake and stream, and every

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bit the wildlife strolling through each amazing piece of this land.

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Ernie and I share the same vision this forest. We

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both look into the trees and study the earth below.

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There is something very spiritual in this forest. The lyrics

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to Ernie's Forest, we both receive an amazing amount of energy.

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I put all of my trust and skills as a

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student into what he is willing to share with me.

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These aren't my words, these are the lyrics from Ernie's Forest,

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chapter number four hundred and eight. January thirteenth, twenty twenty four. Wow,

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the forest floor has been scarred by our most recent

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winter storm. You see here in the south. It's not

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always about the snow. Several hours of torrential downpour combined

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with massive wind gusts. The area that once served as

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my sacred circle, a place of peace, prayer and meditation,

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it's gone. It's gone forever. The only thing remaining are

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the years of written word that I have put inside

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these journals. The forest will recover, the marked up hills

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will be replenished with new growth, allowing its core to

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feel the right amount of energy, so it gains in confidence.

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I want to be sad, but I can't. This is

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Mother Nature, This is her tiny little dot on the

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map and all that enfolds in the story she holds.

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I'm only a writer that was invited to observe, to study,

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and to learn from a storm so damaging will long

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be forgotten, but it's been documented for no reason other

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than to identify with how and why the land and

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the water they've got their way, and how they will

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work together as one, learning how to study everything that

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is beneath your feet, everything that grows high above your

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tallest point. There is so much nature surrounding each and

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every one of us. But being human, we like to

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walk around and declare this is my space, when in fact,

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you are not the owner of that place it owns you.

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You are a visitor called to your moment. So that's

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my challenge. What are you doing with your moments? Are

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you just letting life pass by, or is there something

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you should be grabbing and learning from? So that the

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future generations can say thank you for taking the time

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to look, listen, smell, touch, and feel the atmosphere of

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all things around us. Nature is going to do what

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nature does. And like I said, I want to be sad,

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but I can't because this isn't mine. I'm Marrol, these

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aren't my words. These are the lyrics from Ernie's Forest.