Summer Skies And Simple Pleasures...

 

Hi!

Summer skies and simple pleasures. 

July 2023, the hottest month on the planet in human history. 

To what degree humanity has contributed to this mess is being debated by people much more knowledgeable about this subject than I am, so I will leave that up to them. But, unless you live with your head buried so deep in the sand that you can't feel the sun, you have some kind of inkling, some kind of understanding of the shift in weather patterns, the increasing severity, frequency, and extremes of the storms, drought, flooding, and wildfires that we seem to be facing, constantly.

Like I said, to what degree humans contribute, seems to be, more or less, dependent on who you talk to or which articles you read, but I look at it this way. Even if what we do has only a small impact, shouldn't we do what we can to mitigate whatever we can mitigate? I mean shouldn't the goal always be to do the least amount of damage possible?

Have we become so egocentric that we believe the planet 'needs' us?

If we are dumb enough to, at some point, bring about our own extinction, the planet, Earth, will be absolutely fine. She survived and thrived long before we became upright, and I'm sure will do so again long after we are gone. 

The most ancient civilizations, and I'm talking about the ones that existed before greed became a thing, understood this. Honouring Mother Earth, by this and any other name, was everything. Not because it was trendy, hell societies didn't even know each other existed, but because they understood that gratitude for what nature had to offer was, for lack of a better word, spiritual. 

Somewhere in the journey of evolution, we got lost.

We are a people who traded gratitude for greed. As societies became more advanced, more sophisticated, leaders began to believe their own hype, which lead to ego-driven policies that brought about classism, racism, and holy wars. 

Somehow, somewhere along the way, putting forth that one group of people is in some way more superior to another, separated by colour, religion, wealth, or some combination thereof, became the way the world works.

Mother Earth became an afterthought. Accumulating stuff, and forcing those we deemed 'less than' into submission, in one way or another, became what was later labeled as progress. 

Those who came to be in power learned quickly how they benefitted from separating people. Convince them they have nothing in common, convince them that they are enemies, convince them that my (insert race, religion, or level of wealth here) superiority is the only way to move forward successfully.

Can you imagine if we, the cogs of the wheels that make the world turn, decided, just decided, that all of it is just bullshit? That those who have are somehow better than those who don't. Bullshit. That one religion somehow brings you closer to heaven over another. Bullshit. That you have to be religious to be moral. Bullshit. That one group of people are more worthy of romantic love than another? Bullshit. That someone receiving the same rights and privileges you do somehow diminishes yours? Bullshit. The list is pretty much endless, really.

Can you imagine?

If we contribute knowingly, or out of willful ignorance, to creating a world in which we, as humans, are forced into extinction, we deserve it. 

I mean, aren't we supposedly the smartest species on the planet? Maybe the time has come to prove it. 

So, for now...

Maybe, instead of prioritizing leaving some kind of indelible mark on the planet as some kind of misguided, imaginary proof of our importance, we should strive to leave the smallest imprint possible. 

Mother Earth owes us nothing. We owe her everything.

*******************************************************************

May we make the changes, both big and small, that we need to, to survive, 

Preserving a space where our great great great grandbabies can live, laugh, dance, and thrive.