This episode is the story of a ditch walker. Being a ditch walker is a job almost nobody outside the Western United States and very few in the Western United States have ever heard about, but to me it is a truly profound job filled with both spiritual and environmental significance.

Michael Kiernan is the ditch walker I know and he works for the Salvation Ditch Company. Every day except Sunday early in the morning for the last thirty years Michael has walked over ten miles along the Salvation Ditch in Aspen Colorado which diverts a precise amount of water from the Roaring Fork River and Woody Creek to help water the fields of ranches and farms and billionaire estates along its eighteen mile run. 

Michael, and his new assistant Tucker who will eventually be the next ditch walker of Salvation Ditch, make sure that nobody is stealing water and that no blockages have built up because of pesky beavers. Michael and Tucker cannot listen to music because they must listen to the “music of the water” of Salvation Ditch in order to know that the water is flowing properly at 57 cubic feet per second. 

The Salvation Ditch Company was founded a hundred and two years ago by twelve ranchers and farmers in the Roaring Fork Valley who needed water for their cattle and crops. Michael spoke to me about his wonder and joy even after all these years. He loves being a ditch walker because it takes him out into nature at a time of the day when he encounters all manner of wild beauty and wildlife. 

This episode uses ditch walkers as symbols of all the people who keep our civic life working properly. The episode then becomes a reflection on the need for more ditch walkers for our world. We need them in the form of umpires to play any game. We need them in the form of soldiers and police and EMS workers and fire fighters to keep us safe. We need them in the form of clergy to teach the ethical boundaries taught by faith. We need them in the form of politicians who will transcend personal privilege to sustain our government. Ditch walkers help to set the limits of our life. They prevent us from succumbing to greed and our desire to win at all costs. 

This episode is also a reflection on the terrible loss of trust and civic unity that is a consequence of not having good ditch walkers helping us to live together. It is my hope that the God Squad Podcast can hopefully become a kindly, non-judgmental, electronic ditch walker for our culture. 

The episode also uses a verse from Deuteronomy to remind us that common laborers were specifically included in the list of those who were present at the revelation at Mount Sinai of the laws of God. 

This story also teaches us a very important lesson--distrust beavers!