Things were here before you and will be here after you're gone. The geographic features, especially, give you a sense of your own place in the world and in time.
“I would give up everything rather than have the blood of white men upon the hands of my people.”
“To be hopeful, to embrace one possibility after another that is surely the basic instinct - crying out: High tide! Time to move out into the glorious debris. Time to take this life for what it is!”