This is such a tragic story. It is hard for me to write about it.
I lived in Carroll County in West Georgia, not only during my college years, but in my young adult life up to middle age. It is a beautiful place and I studied Geology and Earth Science at “West College.” I walked the area with my professors as well as with my archeology friends to learn all the ancient stuff. I also took a six pack to relax in its nature, too. The vegetation is lush and thick, a fairy land. From the time I moved there from Atlanta in 1978 until I left in 1997, playing in the many creeks, rivers and reservoirs was just warm weather fun. Jumping rocks and rope swings to hit the cool water was a natural pastime. Sitting in rapid pools on Snake Creek was my jacuzzi when I had a hard week at the restaurant. But, even in the fall and winter, walking the woods was such a treat and there are plenty places to walk.
Aimee Copeland, obviously, loves the area as much as I do. She did the same fun playing as (I hope) many students at UWG have enjoyed for years. She is a graduate student at UWG Humanistic Psychology Department. But, an accident on a home made zipline on the Little Tallapoosa River changed all that. She fell and hit something and her wound, at some point, was infected with Aeromonas hydrophila, a flesh eating bacteria.
Her bio from the the College:
Aimee is a masters student here at University of West Georgia Psychology. It is a program that attracts students who are seeking a psychology with heart. With Maslow’s Humanistic Psychology as our foundation, we explore existential-phenomenological and transpersonal, amongst other, approaches to understanding the human experience. Aimee was attracted to this program because she sees psyche and spirit as inseparable. She feels that psychology divorced from spirituality is “reductionistic,” and is missing the greater Unity of Existence; that humans are not things or objects, yet rather are an inseparable part of the Web of Life. We are no different that the leaf which has no separate existence from the tree, from the ecosystem, and from the totality of Existence itself- whatever you may call it (i.e. God, Gaia, All, Cosmos.)
She has lost a leg. She is fighting. Aimee has also lost her fingers.
I don’t know if this is a water quality issue or not. I lived next to and swam in the Little Tallapoosa River for years.But, I bet it is a water issue.
I love her idea about nature and the humans. I have felt that way for a long time, but, I bet she could articulate it better than I could.
Good speed, Aimee….
