Years ago a group of spiritually-minded forest lovers began hanging mementos of personal significance on the branches of a semi-circle of pines high on the side of a mountain here in California. The site looked onto a distant mountain which, according to the legends of the native people, was the Center of the Cosmos. Someone dragged a meditation chair up the mountain for a lone visitor to commune with the mountain and the spirits. Over time, people adorned the pines with odd ornaments, found solace there, and gradually everyone came to know about the quiet place in the forest. Others came, a drum circle, solstice worshipers among the New Age folk, the curious, the dog walkers and hikers, and the environmentalists tut-tutting over this misuse of Forest Service land.
Then in the dark of a moonless night vandals destroyed the Shrine of the Five Maidens as it was now called. The circle of stones where the ashes of long-gone pets were intermingled was scattered far and wide. A sign was left days later: Fundamentalist Christian Taliban We Know Who You Are. Then a secular tract was nailed to a pine on the trail leading up to the Shrine . Then came a religious tract nailed up on another tree by an unknown. The desecration of the trees continued. Then came piles of teetering stones like cairns set in the middle of the path. This was followed by 5s painted on the trees farther up the mountain, perhaps in commemoration of the Five Maidens.
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Speculation runs rampant with volleys of accusations making the rounds on private email lists with vitriolic and emotional content. This is a small enough village that everyone knows everyone and what faction they belong to. The local weekly began printing Letters to the Editor decrying this villainy. It was said that witchcraft was taking place at the Shrine. The Christians as a bloc wisely did not respond publicly. The Forest Service denied any involvement. Then came a specific accusation against an environmentalist who had expressed the personal opinion, who knows where, that the Shrine was just a “bunch of junk.” This was vociferously rebutted in the stream of Letters to the Editor that followed. A national environmental organization was one of the accused perpetrators.
You’re wondering why I’m telling you all this? These are the issues that eat up my time as a writer of mystery novels set in Santa Monica, California–nowhere near where I now live. I have no idea who desecrated the Five Maidens Shrine. I thought it was weird, peculiar, and wonderful.
There is no way I can stay out of the controversy that is whipping around. I read every email, gossip at the post office, and go to private meetings where this is the topic. I know there are writers who can get keys moving on keyboard no matter what. I heard Jane Yolen at a conference once say: “I tell my children. Don’t bother me unless there are broken bones protruding or hemorrhaging.”
How I wish I could do that as a writer, but I can’t.
* Details have been obscured because feeling is still intense.