The photographs were taken on September 23rd at Liesjärvi National Park.
This morning I walked three hours, circling around lake Meiko and lake Vaipo, and exploring the swamp southeast of lake Vaipo. When I started walking, the temperature was at -4 °C, and when I returned, it was 0 °C. The swamp was a little bit frozen, and frost whitened the landscape.
While walking I though about swamps, and the fact that a swamp might be the most awkward environment for a politician or any other spotlight-oriented person, when there is no audience, just you alone. I thought it might be a nice test for people striving to be elected to have then go to a swamp, all alone. I guess there would be two types of behavior.
The first one to go wouldn't make any preparations for the walk, and would return after five minutes, the front of the suit all covered in wet mud, after falling in. He would be loud and aggressive, saying that swamps are dangerous and they should be walled all around, or even better, all swamps should be drained and covered with asphalt, with golden towers for billionaires to live in, and perhaps also millionaires if they are of the right type, blond and beautiful. He would be cussing loudly all the way to the locker room.
The second one to go would have done thorough preparations, wearing tall rubber boots and carrying binoculars and a camera. She would return many hours later, tired but brimming with thoughts, telling about a specific rare moss growing there, and what types of birds are nesting. She would tell how swamps are an important part of the global ecosystem, to be cherished and valued, to protect the Earth for us all.
(Posting title is from the poem World Leader Pretend by R.E.M.)
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