by Gus Hadorn
After 4 billion years of evolution we have arrived, the product of stardust, mystery and miracle.This place, given by grace, this green earth so complete and so beautiful is beyond our capacity to comprehend. The diversity of plants and animals here, only here, defies the imagination.
Landforms beyond description, waters tumbling, teaming with life, sky a never-ending canvas of beauty and systems that defy the imagination managing the parts and sustaining the masterpiece.
In this relationship with beauty, we have learned to love each other. But in our magnificence, we have been careless; lost sight of being but a part of a much bigger world. In our hubris we have wrought havoc on this place that is ours to love and sustain. We now find ourselves in a storm of our making. Changes too long delayed are upon us.
The evidence is clear, a finite planet thrives in balance but is reduced by neglect and plunder. Our narrow focus on profit and consumption is unraveling the fabric of life. We are not the first generation to face our fears but if we fail, we may be the last.
A pandemic is scary, but more concerning however, is one crisis rolling into another until we can no longer cope.
Even in despair we can find our place again in the silence and in the sounds and in the places where the waters flow and the sun breaks through the trees. In this pause, we can consider a different course and align ourselves with the natural order that has directed creation from the beginning. This is our time, and these times require a course correction.
We must wake up, do the work we don’t want to do, work we have neglected. We must live sustainable, work together, act boldly, find our voice and be the voice of those that cannot speak. This is the most important work of our lives.
The part we play is essential for extending the gift of life to the children of every species. We can move beyond the small screens of our lives and discover the sunrise of a new day.