I took a lovely fall walk through the Audubon Sanctuary on Marblehead Neck recently, enjoying the quiet under a not-yet-colorful canopy. The path in parts was slightly muddy, rather than crunchy with leaves, from the recent Nor’easter. I gathered a perfect fallen acorn, another kind of tree nut I couldn’t identify, and a red and green spackled maple leaf in the palm of my hand, lifting the other to greet a male passerby talking to someone through his air buds. Otherwise I was alone. I noted, as I assume most women walking alone in the woods note to themselves, whether I felt safe or not. Yes, I thought, not 100% safe, but safe enough.
The passing safety reflection made me reflect anew on a topic that I often think about: If it’s not about feeling completely safe, in nature or elsewhere, what then is the true nature of sanctuary?
The word sanctuary, like so much these days, has become a loaded political term. So-called “sanctuary” states and cities are in the harsh glare of polarization. Yet, politics aside, isn’t sanctuary what we have sought for millennia as human beings?
Evidence that this is still the case abounds.
For starters, an awful lot of cannabis stores start with the name sanctuary, so I suppose marketers believe legalized marijuana products dangle the “peace out” nature of sanctuary as a promised reward of their product.
Plenty of escapism retreats dangle the same with resorts bearing the name sanctuary in their brands from the Caribbean to the Arizona desert. Apparently finding true sanctuary requires a reservation.
Did you know sanctuary could be found in a pair of pants? Yes pants. In Beverly Hills, and of course online, a clothing brand Sanctuary produces eco-friendly fashions that offer the “laid back aesthetic of California, the effortless attitude of New York and the adventurous spirit of the world” to give women the style they need 24/7. Sanctuary style, that is.
Beyond clothing, you can find sanctuary branding for fertilizers, gluten-free and organic foods and of course, coffee shops that also house cats.
Can a relationship be a sanctuary? Taylor Swift thinks so. At least that’s what I take from this lyric from her new hit song “Cleveland.” “You only need to find one person in this entire world who doesn’t find you completely insufferable,” Swift sings. “And I have an important announcement to make, I’ve found mine.”
I’ve found mine too. And (!) he brings me coffee in bed.
A bedroom, or your entire home itself, by the way, can be transformed into a sanctuary by home décor brands which abound using the label. Teak seems to be the sanctuary-sanctioned wood.
And beloved backyards can be sanctuarized too, of course, with a lantern hung here and an Adirondack chair there. So long as you use organic Sanctuary fertilizer.
So where do I land on the true nature of sanctuary given the plethora of retail options to add it to our lives?
Unlike porn, I think you know sanctuary when you feel it, as opposed to seeing it or buying it. Sanctuary is a way of being in a place, not a destination, a thing or even a person. You can find it inside — some call it inner peace — and there is no credit card required. It’s already yours.
Virginia Buckingham is the former president of the Marblehead Current’s Board of Directors, former chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority, chief of staff to two Massachusetts governors, deputy editorial page editor for the Boston Herald and author of “On My Watch: A Memoir.”
