The Only Constant Is Change by Kaylee Choi

The sun set just past 8pm, and the rays kissed the towering rock formations goodnight as a blush of ember blanketed their faces. It was more than an orange reflection, but rather, the rocks glowed, exuding an aura of warmth, love, and kindness.

How grateful I am that the canyons have welcomed us to crash for seventy days!

And with that, the singing blue skies faded into a velvety indigo, and starry glitter dusted across the sky. Day changed to night as I found myself reflecting on how the only constant thing is change.

Change.

That word struck a chord, like how the canyon wren’s song reverberates throughout the walls of the canyon. It reminded me that I have aspirations to create change in our world.

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I remained cognizant of this idea moving into section 2’s traverse through the Dirty Devil River. Coyote willow lined the banks of the river, amused while watching the quicksand play pranks on us. One step in the Dirty Devil, and the sand remained unyielding. The next step, however, suddenly one of us would be knee-deep while the other four would have to pull them out. We laughed along with the coyote willow each time.

Like how the makeup of the quicksand constantly varied beneath our feet, it was another reminder that the only constant thing is change.

I began to reflect on our ever-changing world. In it, the pendulum continues to swing. Society is radically leaning towards division as collaborative thinking has become rare, much like a clean pair of socks out here.

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In section 3, we had the privilege to learn about Indigenous Peoples’ worldviews and to witness tidbits of their rich history in regions of New Mexico, Zuni, and Navajo Nation. When I started to pay close attention, I realized it was ubiquitous in the stories this region has to tell.

There are connections of Peoples to the sun that provides light and warmth, the cottonwoods that wave hello, and the water that is the lifeblood of our Earth.

And there are traces of Peoples in the pictographs, petroglyphs, and dwellings that have such intricate detail. To imagine the Indigenous Peoples from hundreds to thousands of years ago, and then to see their signs of life, it humanized the history I learned about. It made me look at the land differently. It humbled me.

But as the pendulum continued to swing, we realized that these sacred lands are not indefinitely protected, as regulations eminently change every four years.

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We are already in section 4 in Bears Ears National Monument, sacred lands of Indigenous Peoples that have been impacted the past nine years and counting.

I look up in awe as the ponderosas stretch toward the sky, following the landscapes that starkly contrast the previous sections’ views. Am I sure this is not a green screen? Artificial intelligence? I sit gazing at our wondrous, more-than-human world in front of me as I write!

I reflect upon section 1 and am grateful to witness how much my peers and I have grown and changed. We have shifted from a state of formality to a state of constant laughter, genuine friendships and love captivating the magic that follows us throughout the Colorado Plateau. Our perspectives have grown; changing as we gain insight from our course content and learning from one another, picking each others’ beautiful brains.

We widen each others’ lenses.

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Everything is changing, and we need to hold onto the innate sympathetic wonder from the ground to the sky that we may have lost as society encroaches on our lenses. We are a voice for the protection of natural history, the fabric of the world in which each thread has a role in the system, and for the protection of culture that is deeply embedded in the system. We need to shift the momentum of the pendulum swing to larger systems thinking for the interconnectedness and sustainability of our future. Together, that is how we change the world. And we can change the world.

The Earth spins in our solar system, dancing with her ever-changing features.

The only constant thing is change, 

and we will 

change 

the world.