10-15 years is the lifespan of a beaver, in Spanish, the beaver is el castor. Once a beaver is two-years-old, it leaves the family lodge.
Dave was a beaver, El Castor, a keystone species – unfortunately one I watched become extinct. His arc or span in my life was just about 10-15 years in the wild starting in 2004. The only blue-eyed blonde beaver I’ve ever met.
A keystone species has a disproportionately large effect on its natural environment. They play a critical role in maintaining the larger ecosystem. Without them, that ecosystem would be dramatically different or would cease to exist altogether. I say this due to what I saw in potential for education and learning from Dave, not that he directly had some enormous or unique effect on anyone, but because we could have all learned so much from him to make our futures brighter and better (I hope we are paying attention). He wasn’t just building a damn around himself from the world and destroying himself like a felled tree, he was showing us what is all around us and in more cases than we would like to admit, what is inside many of us also. I remember the first time I met him, thought wow this guy has the world in his palm, had it all figured out, on top from every angle. Intelligent, great career, warm and funny lighting up the room effortlessly, with a family out of a photo book including two small children and a wife who was incredible in every way, but powerless at the same time. She knew the reality and looking back I could see it in her eyes the first time we met. But I wasn’t attentive then and I barely am now. He was a guy I instantly saw similarities and wanted to shape my life after, strive to be like. We connected like brothers. We never listen to family. I cast aside any issue that was visible, I ignored what grew into an insatiable beast, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Dave probably thought the same about me, or maybe he saw himself but didn’t want to speak up. We were so similar. He was so Mallin yet internally full of self-malice, Mallin just as the Irish name conveys, attractive and pleasant, with a demon inside he could not shed.
Dave couldn’t manage his struggles, he was caught in a downward spiral moving from extant (in existence) to extinct in a few years of our friendship. Hard to say that as neither of us were a friend to the other. I was able to watch it all, as a second-generation alcoholic and the substance abuse, the inability to satisfy his father’s goals and aspirations that he could never reach. Which was horribly construed, for he had already reached higher than anyone could ever imagine. He was his only and worst enemy. Seeing it all, so obvious yet I didn’t take the lessons and nearly joined him. Nearly – that is the word I will focus on. Dave el Castor slapped the surface with his tail, just as beavers do to warn others of danger, and I was there to see and hear that oar-like slap on the water, but I did not take caution. I was also miraging in my mind, on top of everything, but in reality also fully upside down. Yet now I am finding the right side up, building something different, just as meticulously and diligently as a beaver builds a damn, I am building a positive future. Beavers chisel-shaped incisors grow continuously, only their constant and diligent use keeps them from growing larger and larger and like any tool, use is key to stay sharp or remain in a positive state.
When they say beavers are smart animals, that is supported by their brain physiology - the hypothalamus is smaller than the cerebrum, the cerebellum very well developed: indicating a higher intelligence level and coordination compared with other animals. Their sense of smell is very acute, and is a primary way of identifying family members through their glands. Yet at the same time, beavers do not see well, as their eyes are also poorly adapted to seeing underwater. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and our awareness is from them collectively. I have the vision of a beaver, only seeing blurs and making of them what I wanted to see. All in a fog.
Going back to the keystone aspect of beavers in the ecosystem, its amazing that slowing down the movement of water with a damn can have such an impact – increasing lentic (slow or motionless water) is very beneficial and sometimes you have to slow down to thrive and grow. The slow-moving waters benefit from providing a breeding ground first to algae and invertebrates up to dragonflies, mussels, snails, flies up through salmon and trout which can better reproduce and have more nourishment in this type of environment. Then there’s frogs, waterfowl, and others you may not envision such an impact on. You don’t want to stop the water, but slowing the current down just enough for things to blossom. For the power of the water like that of our thoughts and our minds cannot be fully impeded. Beyond the primary benefits on the ecosystem there’s secondary impact, collateral benefit (not damage as we are so accustomed to hearing about). Then in addition consider AirB&B or VRBO commune aspect of beaver damns and lodges, also housing muskrats, minks, otters and larger fish around them, providing shelter for kinfolk and others. And more bugs at the surface of slower-moving water – leads to more bats. Bats play an essential role in pest control selectively picking out the species we need less of, also pollinating plants and dispersing seeds, they are not vampires that suck the life out, they are life-spreaders in the community. How wrong we are about the bats like so many things. Bats are not foe or vermin; they are a necessary and marvelous species. Not to mention the ways that bats have inspired technological advancements – the whole sonar and echolocation stuff, crazy bat suits and drones, ultralight sail-like wing designs.
Beavers, a monogamous species, also live in family units, with up to 10 members commonly found together. They are committed to the end, care for their own, and have big hearts to go along with their big brains.
Reading more about busy beavers and here’s Pliny the Elder again (you remember him from the story about A Gypsy, A Rose, Head Ringing, Waxing Gibbous Moon, Lunatic Crashing into Saturn – yeah that one was also about Pliny the Elder: https://www.mindentropy.com/post/a-gypsy-a-rose-headringing-lunatic-born-from-a-waxing-gibbous-moon-crashing-into-saturn-friday ).
Pliny the Elder, Gaius Plinius Secundus from the early Roman days, the philosopher author, natural sciences buff and military commander. He was a diverse dude. Pliny believed that beaver castoreum (the liquid in their castor sacs) thought this was a magic potion – capable of healing vertigo, seizures, epilepsy and many other ailments. And the power of castoreum is attributed to a buildup of salicylic acid from the beaver’s diet of willow and aspen trees. Yet today most of us just know of the cult IPA beer of his namesake from Northern California’s Russian River brewing company, because Pliny the natural scientist he was, is forever tied to the hops which so make beer what it is (known now as Humulus Lupulus). Pliny being the first to write about hops in his Natural History survey Naturalis Historia is as most things debatable – as many believe he was writing about the plant lupus salictarius or the wolf of the willows. Wolf of the willows is named such because wild hops will and do grow on trees and quite possibly could bring down trees with their weight just as wolves bring down sheep as their prey. While that is not easy to imagine, we do often see hops growing around willow trees and climbing them. https://zythophile.co.uk/2010/03/14/so-what-did-pliny-the-elder-say-about-hops/
And there's a Wolf of the Willows brewery in Australia – no surprise there and no surprise that a healthy ecosystem needs both wolves and willows, just ask Yellowstone about that (and beavers and elk too https://beta.nsf.gov/news/yellowstone-ecosystem-needs-wolves-and-willows-elk-andbeavers from 2013 and then more recently progress some 8 years later https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/reintroduction-wolves-tied-return-tall-willows-yellowstone-national-park ).
Maybe after a few pints down under this will all come clear, if anyone knows the answer to the riddle it would have to be the owners of the establishment with that namesake.
Yet somehow it all just fits together, wolves and willows and IPAs and beavers and lessons and chemicals that poison you and take your pain away. Whether Pliny was talking about salicylic acid or another similarly-named plant or hops to make great IPAs we will never know. Its all a bit loopy or should we say lupulo the Spanish and Italian word for hops which came along much later and a great beer tavern in Viejo San Juan. Oh the salacious buildup here is too much, but back to the chemical angle here.
Salicylic acid – well there is some truth to its healing nature, as it is both a precursor to and a metabolite of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). It is also an EPA listed Toxic Substance because it is a teratogen. And the origin comes from the Latin word for salix, which means willow tree. Most of us know salicylic acid as a skin or acne product, or perhaps as a food preservative, bactericide or antiseptic. My stomach is a bit queasy hearing that list. Or perhaps the layers in my stomach are peeling away.
Inputs and outputs (precursors and metabolites, building blocks and byproducts) can be one in the same and if we aren’t careful, can be quite confused and need more than a few aspirins. Sometimes we are the teacher but more so the student in that same moment, we must see all perspectives and connectedness in our mental and social ecosystems – nothing happens by chance. And as with entropy, all things seek the lowest state of order or highest state of disorder, life can be very delicate. We can throw everything out of balance, and balance is something the beavers keep just right in our ecosystems. Finding balance and working diligently to build for the future, something Dave could not do and for that reason he is gone. A lesson I was not able to learn and I almost joined him. But better late than never they say, time to use new wisdom and be busy as a beaver. And nothing is constant, just as Yellowstone National Park has found a healthy renewed ecosystem and success balancing the willows and beavers and wolves, the bison continue to attack if we get to close or test fate by getting too close.
I remember countless rounds of golf we played, dueling against each other. Friends and enemies on the course at the same time. Each unable to recognize our true enemy. Losing an external game on the course and losing a much bigger game on the inside. Reminds me of a book and another missed opportunity that was right in front of my face and down the street. The Inner Game – the playbook to win was always right in front of me in Thousand Oaks, Ca – author Tim Gallwey’s office was a short few minutes from my house. They say the greatest threats will always come from within, nothing could be more true. You can learn so much about yourself through golf, and so much about life. Or ignore a weakness in your game, try to work around it and manage that without addressing it, until you implode.
The Inner Game is a proven method to overcome the self-imposed obstacles that prevent an individual or team from accessing their full potential.
The classic guide to sharpening your mind and raising your performance—on the green, and in the game of life. “The best sports psychology book ever written about golf.”—Inside Golf W. Timothy Gallwey’s bestselling Inner Game books–with more than one million copies sold–have revolutionized the way we think about sports. As he did in his phenomenally successful The Inner Game of Tennis, Gallwey provides methods that can be applied to situations beyond the green. The Inner Game of Golf delivers strategies to achieve potential–both in the crucible of competition and in everyday life. With Gallwey as a guide, you’ll learn how to • defeat your mental demons and find clarity under pressure • dispel tensions that can sabotage your performance • build confidence and overcome insecurities that can hijack your best instincts • employ the art of “relaxed concentration” to improve your swing, your game, and your life No matter what your skill set, Gallwey’s pioneering strategies, real-life examples, and illuminating advice are perfect for anyone who strives to be a champion on and off the course.
I will never be a champion on the course, but hope to be at least mid-major level off the course.
And nothing is certain or goes one way, I remember the last time I talked to Dave on the phone while I was living in Thousand Oaks, and he off in New Mexico. This was probably 6 or 8 years back now (I met him in 2004 so this was no short story). Dave had gone through rehab, successfully it truly sounded like. While he was long divorced and had lost his job at the company where we met, he could now see his kids and started a new job also a good one. He turned his substance addiction on its head into physical exercise addiction with golf and bike riding and skiing. He was a new man, turned over a new leaf. A few years later he met a new woman and the drink got a hold of him and he soon feel back into the darkness, the drink unrelenting, then had a stroke or heart attack and died in early 2021. There was no down with the shine, the shine took him down. The well was poisoned, the mind ruined.
I still didn’t learn anything from Dave when hearing of his death and the circumstances, it took me another year and going much deeper into my own darkness. Again, he tried to help me avoid further anguish but I didn’t oblige. Just another extremely bull-headed slow or no learning addict too, but I can change none the less. Next time I have a friend who needs help I will not look the other way, next time someone is showing me the right way, a mirror that can be used to be better, I will. I am full of foundational, selfish regrets for multiple lifetimes.
Down With the Shine (the Avett Brothers from the album The Carpenter, 2012):
Down with the shine, the perfect shine That poisons the well, and ruins my mind I get took for a ride every time Down with the glistening shine
It's in with the new, and out with the old Out goes the warm, and in comes the cold It's the most predictable story told It's in with the young, out with the old
Down with the shine, the perfect shine That poisons the well, and ruins my mind I get took for a ride every time Down with the glistening shine
A belly full of high-dollar wine A fat hand, a fat wallet too
Things change and get strange With this movement of time It's happening right now to you