Service learning in Dornix

Our efforts at Dornix park hold the familiar flavor as the efforts in our book, "Haroun and the Sea of Stories", by the Guppees and Chupwalas as they worked around the Sea of Stories. Each have different reasons for their attentions, and each reason is reflected back into what we ourselves are experiencing and feeling. We just have to relies it and embrace it.

The Guppees see the Sea of Stories as a mark with there past. The old zone holds all of the old, ancient, original stories. They revive the sea of stories to make it knew, fresh, and usable. They take pride in taking care of the Sea of Stories and all that is associated with it. People have been drawn to the Dornix site for various reasons, though among them is the reason that that is where Big Timber was originally developed though they had to move the site due to an inconvenience with the rail road. It is a link with our past and the things that we crave to know. By working and restoring Dornix to a usable, enjoyable place, we bring ourselves closer to the past, the same as the Guppees bring themselves closer to those of their past through the Sea of Stories.

The Chupwalas, after their evil leader is overthrown, would probably feel a priority towards the Sea of Stories after their leader did, in fact, nearly destroy it. Because, in their minds, they would be mildly responsible for the destruction and would feel a need to correct it. Some people feel a guilt that Dornix went so long unattended that they want to restore it to a glory that people are mildly responsible for letting it slip into. Even if they are not able to make it back into the town it was, they feel that they can change it into something where everyone in town can enjoy.

Personally, I don't feel any guilt that Dornix deteriorated into something that is some one's back pasture. However, we do have a need for the kinds of things that Dornix can offer to us. I find it fulfilling to go to Dornix and help out, even if it is just raking up wood chips. There is a sense of good that fills you when you help with something so important, something that could carry on past any of the people that live in Big Timber. Sometimes I wonder if some of the people who worked on creating places like Yellowstone National Park had the same feeling as this.

All in all, our work at Dornix park relates to the feelings that are bouncing around our book. To them and to me, it is worth wild to preserve what we have, restore what we had, and appreciate all that comes with it. We are so lucky to have a community that does pitch in and create places where we can enjoy ourselves and be closer to our past.