Sometimes words from an old song slip into my head and I find myself humming the song for a long time, unaware. When I realize it, I often ask why those words, why that song, what's it all about? Lately, the words from
Seconds later, images of the world's most desperate and unsettling poverty flashed before my eyes. Yes, my heart aches for all of us, woven so closely around our Mother Earth, packed like sardines overflowing in third word cities, defenseless, vulnerable, hungry, sick, hopeless, looking into the media's lens in silent anguish - children, parents, animals, land and seas - the whole creation is groaning and laboring.
And, no, this is NOT news to anyone. Yet, if, as St. Theresa of Avila, said, "We are instruments of God; our hands are God's hands; our feet, his feet; our hearts, his heart," then surely we cannot look away. If we do, our own hearts will break and we will lose our humanity, what little is left. Since we cannot ignore the deepening crisis of poverty and heinous misuse and abuse of our precious Earth, how do we help? Who or what is causing the problem? We know we have to change what we're doing, but how and what? Maybe we need some strong leadership in this effort, but if memory serves us, living more simply is not outside our collective experience as a young nation struggling to survive on a new continent. Can we do it again?
I remember former times when our mothers made our clothes and our meals, and our father's may have built our homes. Grandfather came to help him and grandmother helped mother with some of the cooking and child rearing. Those were days when we grew stuff in our gardens, and purchased far less than we grew, made or built. Maybe that was what we knew then as good old fashioned American ingenuity when "necessity was the mother of invention." Today, despite all the negative advertising and information about economic injustice, people still shop at stores like Wal-mart. I continue to be shocked at the amount of recreational shopping. It blows my mind.
What if, we stopped shopping at Wal-mart and stopped shopping almost entirely or at least went on a shopping diet. And, when we have to shop, out of necessity, it would be at the Goodwill where we could purchase things to make new things out of. What if we all grew as much produce as our small yards could and then traded with our neighbors who grew other things, so an entire neighborhood could become a community garden with each household growing different things? Even in the colder climates, we are still able to grow things.
What if we made or grew everything and made a commitment not to support "the man" who is exploiting the planet in third world impoverishment, in sweat shops and land exploitation around the world, preying on the weakest and poorest among us. Blindly, many Americans shop too casually, not thinking twice before stopping into a low-cost dollar store or Wal-mart, Target or any of the other large industrial shopping centers where profit is the name of the game, not people, not God, not our precious, languishing planet.
What if we were more conscious of where our food came from? What if we stopped and thought for a moment where the chicken or beef comes from that we're about to buy? Personally, I can't eat animals. I love them too much to eat them. They have as much a right to life as I do. A few months ago, a friend and I watched "Food.inc" (available at Blockbuster ) and it revealed in graphic detail what is happening on the factory farms across the country. It is sickening and heart breaking. We need to become aware and then engage our hearts with our minds and maybe then we will act like the divine beings we were created to be. Maybe then we will honor the Earth by not eating her fur, feathered or finned children. We can also honor each other by honoring the producers, makers, and growers of the items we purchase. We can stop using chemicals in our homes. We can stop and think again when we're in the grocery store, asking ourselves, "Do we really need that processed food?"
God's will has always been an invitation to step up higher on the evolutionary consciousness ladder and act with greater consciousness, more lovingly, less selfishly, more communally. How do we respond? I believe we respond in consciousness. We respond by thinking carefully about what we do, what we eat, what we purchase and what our needs really are. Are we really here to consume as much stuff as possible, as cheaply as possible? for what purpose? Do the dolphin and eagles need moving companies to move their stuff from one mountain or ocean to another? When did humans ever have so much stuff? Sometimes I think less is more.
I believe that we can save our world if we wake up and choose to be more intentional about our choices and exercise some self discipline and think of the impact our choices have in the world. Everything you say and do leaves a mark in our world. You make a difference, a big difference, and you can make a very important impact for the good if you are willing. Everyone is needed to make the kind of significant difference our world needs today. It's so much more than giving money to a charity - not to diminish the value in giving - but we must turn around our economic habits and consumption addictions, and live more simply, so, as the saying goes, others may simply live.
No comments:
Post a Comment