Remembering Ed Abbey
I enjoyed Gregory McNamee’s recent article commemorating the tenth anniversary of Abbey’s death on March 14. It’s encouraging to see that while Ed may no longer be with us, his work and his message live on.
What’s not encouraging is the present condition of our society and the minuscule number of people willing to take a stand and resist its dominant cultural trends. We need more people willing to stand against the flow, rather than flow with it.
As McNamee points out, Abbey was not afraid to take on the establishment and to be a “fly in the oinment,” and that’s exactly what we need today, more flies in the oinment. More people willing to resist and refuse, ride their bikes, grow their food, work closer to home, speak up for the voiceless and quit listening to the mindless.
There’s not another Ed Abbey, and there never will be another Ed Abbey. But his readers can continue the important work for which he is remembered.