Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time, in days when I was much younger, I fell in love with a magical place named Cape Hatteras.

Set miles out to sea from the North Carolina mainland, it stands as a unique and very special place where wind and tides shape the shore, where the sea surrounds, where wildlife was abundant, and fishing often spectacular. This is a place where one can stand on Cape Point and watch the sun rise over one shoulder and set over the other, both events occurring over the ocean, without ever having to move an inch.

It is a place that inspires song, works of art, and poetry, a place that digs deep into the soul and brings forth emotions not felt in the "real" world as an off-island experience is often called down here.

There is just something extraordinary about this place. Something intangible and indescribable. Something that you have to visit here to grasp. Once done however, once discovered, leaving this place leaves one with a sense of longing that can never be satisfied until they return. Many generations, many families, have been raised on the traditions surrounding these beaches whether they were raised here or came from afar.

We're not like the northern beaches of Nags Head and the like. There aren't endless miles of development down here. Instead, eight small villages dot the map and make up such a small portion of these islands that once through them, you hardly remember they exist at all.

But now our Federal Government wants to shut down all of our beaches and absolutely destroy our entire economy. And according to Cyndy Holda, Chief Information Officer for the National Park Service around these parts, as per a "press release" on the first of February, this, among other things, is being done to  preserve our unique Island culture.

Right, so you shut down our beaches, starve our economy, make it virtually impossible for anyone to get out to the beach so you can preserve our culture. And if that isn't enough, you're going to charge us for the privilege of destroying our way of life to boot so you can preserve our culture.

NPS has made some spectacular claims in the past, but this one tops them all, it surely does.

I think that you and Mr Murray owe a substantial apology to all the residents of these islands and the American people at large. You should carry your head in shame.

I don't know what sort of kool aid you consume Madame Holda, but how you believe that by destroying a way of life and the culture that has been extant since before your agency arrived on these islands is tantamount to preserving same, is beyond me. It's obviously beyond you as well..just not in the same way.

You cannot destroy to preserve.

That's all I have to say except I look forward to the day where you are removed from your job.

Tight Lines,

Wheat