Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / Forest Stories Episode One Hundred Twenty Six Building Your Forest Stories
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Hey, when it comes to podcasts listening, are you like me?
- 0:02Speaker 1: I mean, it's like television surfing. You're like all over
- 0:05Speaker 1: the place looking for that one thing that you can
- 0:07Speaker 1: add to your moment of now. Be it fest stories,
- 0:10Speaker 1: be it rockstar stories, talking with a chef, whatever you're
- 0:13Speaker 1: looking for. That's what aro dot net is all about.
- 0:17Speaker 1: Arrooe dot net. The searching is over. It's all in
- 0:20Speaker 1: one place. Enjoy the exploration. Hey, thanks for being a
- 0:25Speaker 1: part of the conversation. Welcome to foest Stories, a series
- 0:28Speaker 1: of short winded adventures within a collection of skyscraping trees,
- 0:32Speaker 1: stuck feet First and Georgia Clay right here in Carolina.
- 0:35Speaker 1: It's been a huge part of my daily journey for
- 0:37Speaker 1: over thirty three years. I Am the Poet in the Forest,
- 0:40Speaker 1: a children's series written and recorded in the nineteen nineties.
- 0:44Speaker 1: It's grown into multiple podcasts that now reach around the world,
- 0:47Speaker 1: and none of it would be possible without this forest
- 0:49Speaker 1: right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina, at the base
- 0:52Speaker 1: of Heartbreak Hills. It's a sign that reads Rainbow Forest. Well,
- 0:56Speaker 1: it's time you get to meet what's inspired several generations
- 1:00Speaker 1: long before the paved paths decorated with colorful homes colonized
- 1:03Speaker 1: around this beautiful lake, slow moving stream, flatland swamps, and
- 1:07Speaker 1: array of natural animals. There were families and business owners
- 1:11Speaker 1: who are said to have raced into this area for
- 1:13Speaker 1: the beauty of the land, wild roses, migratory birds, and
- 1:16Speaker 1: wild grapevines. Those before me either forgot to ride about
- 1:20Speaker 1: it or it's buried somewhere inside their family tree. Hey,
- 1:24Speaker 1: thanks for being a part of the conversation. Welcome back
- 1:32Speaker 1: to the forest. So many people approach me and talk
- 1:36Speaker 1: to me about taking these transition walks through this forest.
- 1:40Speaker 1: They speak of this forest as if it's just one
- 1:42Speaker 1: of those things that's along a long lost highway, when
- 1:47Speaker 1: in fact it's not. There are many people that walk
- 1:50Speaker 1: through this forest and don't see it as a forest.
- 1:53Speaker 1: People who drive, or they skateboard, they have their bikes,
- 1:55Speaker 1: They do so many things inside this forest. But something
- 1:58Speaker 1: keeps bringing them back here. And that's been my dedication
- 2:03Speaker 1: and loyalty, as well as my perseverance in trying to
- 2:06Speaker 1: understand what that connection is about this forest. Now, not
- 2:11Speaker 1: even two miles from here, there are these huge boulders,
- 2:16Speaker 1: I mean huge, bigger than a house. These boulders back
- 2:20Speaker 1: in the fourteen hundred served as homes for the Native
- 2:23Speaker 1: Americans that were from this area. It is considered to
- 2:26Speaker 1: be a National landmark. Now it's only two miles from here.
- 2:29Speaker 1: If you get an aerial view of this forest and
- 2:32Speaker 1: you see where those boulders are, they're connected. The only
- 2:36Speaker 1: thing that separates them is man's desire to create a
- 2:39Speaker 1: city with bigger roads, shopping centers, and everything else they
- 2:43Speaker 1: want to stuff into this while the land is still
- 2:45Speaker 1: sitting there looking at you saying I love you so much,
- 2:48Speaker 1: I love you, I love you. Yeah. I totally believe
- 2:51Speaker 1: this forest loves us, which is the reason why so
- 2:54Speaker 1: many are called to this forest. But what is the
- 2:57Speaker 1: energy that's bringing this forest forward? Why do I have
- 3:02Speaker 1: such an interest in it? And why has it been
- 3:04Speaker 1: going on since I arrived in November of nineteen ninety two.
- 3:07Speaker 1: It is so fricking strong. I can't just get up
- 3:11Speaker 1: and leave because the first thing that I think of
- 3:14Speaker 1: when a radio station in a different city says, hey, look,
- 3:17Speaker 1: we want you to do afternoon Dive Force here in Chicago.
- 3:20Speaker 1: We want you to do this in Seattle. And the
- 3:24Speaker 1: answer is no. The reason I can't leave this forest.
- 3:29Speaker 1: So what is the connection? And I think one of
- 3:32Speaker 1: the things that keeps coming back to me when I
- 3:34Speaker 1: walk through this forest and I'm listening to the birds,
- 3:38Speaker 1: I'm seeing the snakes and the spiders. I'm viewing the
- 3:42Speaker 1: hawks and the owls as they look from areas where
- 3:45Speaker 1: birds of prey do their thing, creating music in ways
- 3:49Speaker 1: that develop relationships with making sure that the forest floor
- 3:53Speaker 1: is clear of anything that would bring chaos. I think
- 3:58Speaker 1: that inside my heart, I love this force more than
- 4:01Speaker 1: anything because I'll fight for this forest in the way
- 4:05Speaker 1: of if anything were to go wrong in this area,
- 4:11Speaker 1: like it's gone wrong in Israel, Gaza, Iran, Ukraine, Russia,
- 4:21Speaker 1: all of these places, Congo. Everywhere there is war, a
- 4:28Speaker 1: forest has fallen to the floor. Think about that. I'm
- 4:34Speaker 1: blessed to be walking through this forest. I might be
- 4:38Speaker 1: the only one who recognizes this as being a place
- 4:42Speaker 1: of connection, peace and growth, growth in the way of
- 4:48Speaker 1: becoming stronger with your universal beliefs and or just creating
- 4:53Speaker 1: because it was just something you felt. But what makes
- 4:58Speaker 1: it stronger inside my soul are the thoughts of war
- 5:03Speaker 1: and that man could come by here when you least
- 5:06Speaker 1: expect it, and this forest could be no more. The
- 5:12Speaker 1: only thing I've got are these stories. What about you?
- 5:19Speaker 1: Your stories? Your Forest City Park, that little mall parking
- 5:25Speaker 1: lot that you walk through that has all those beautiful
- 5:27Speaker 1: trees and connections to all the different wild animals, building
- 5:32Speaker 1: your story. Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation.