Yah, been awhile, but hopefully everyone's been remembering to savor those moments of beauty. They're easy to miss, and important to celebrate. Because we need to celebrate the now. For all that we might hope and work for a better future, and for all the flaws and failures we can recognize in the now, it's worth keeping in mind the possibility that now is actually better, than we hope the future will be. It's worth taking a moment to recognize what's good about now.
On a fundamental level, humans are binary in their motivations - they desire pleasure, and fear pain. I believe that it's better to be motivated by desire, than fear. Which is why I try to keep focussed on the beauty. So, what was your last most beautiful moment? I've got 2.
1-Handing out worms to children. I was helping out with and env ed class for 5th-graders at a public school in DC, and we sent them back to class with their own worm bin. The kids lined up for the chance to put worms in their worm bin, and it was my job to hand them out (the worms). A very emotional moment. Fear and fascination and newness and bravery. I wish I could have given the kids an hour to get intimate with the worms, to watch they way they stretch and crawl, to learn their beauty. But they just had a moment. But it still was beautiful.
2-Documenting a sediment control violation. This is a profoundly unbeautiful moment, but I did take pleasure in witnessing a muddy flood of sediment contaminate a stream today. It had happened many times before, but the moment was beautiful because today we were there to document it. And hopefully the result will be better standards and more responsible protection for streams.