When this post appears, I will be in France, taking a train to our first destination in Saint Malo. Today, I spend a few hours in the morning, just before the rain that was forecast to fall, cleaning up and putting away in storage, all the ornaments including the two Buddhas. Now, the back yard is as bare as I am. We expect to return just before the onset of winter, but winter has been known to set in earlier than that return date. I have no interest in trying to do the same work in snow and freezing temperatures.
With the likelihood of no opportunities to be nude in nature for the next four months, I will likely lose the tan before we head to Ecuador in early January for another three months of sun, sand, and surf. However, that doesn’t mean there will be no opportunities for being clothing free.
I read an interesting article in the New Yorker this morning, What if We Stopped Pretending, by Jonathan Franzen. In a way, it paints a very pessimistic picture about the not-too-distant future due to climate crisis. However, by the time I reached the end of the article, I began to see it all from a different point of view, one that could almost be called, hopeful. We have already passed the point of no return when it comes to the climate crisis. All that remains to be seen is when we feel the full impact of that crisis. Franzen lays out a saner approach to the issues that will drastically change our world and our societies, issues that are already present.
As I read, I wondered about the naturist world looking at the future in the same logical manner and if we would stop pretending that we can proactively change the world to be more accepting of naturism. As a movement and lifestyle, we are not advancing the cause at all. If anything, we are slipping backwards. We can’t help but slip backwards as the rest of the world is getting more frustrated and angry with how their “normal” world is in peril. So, perhaps this is a good time to rethink the future. One positive, a warmer planet makes for a saner choice for less or no clothing.