We Are All Connected
by Christine Maccabee
At a very young age, children have a connection with the natural world in ways we, as adults, sometimes forget, perhaps never learned, or no longer have time for. The magic of tiny butterflies in a grandmother’s flower garden can touch the heart of the youngest of children, as it did mine, and the memory remains with me to this day. My world was very limited then—small you might say—and yet so very large with wonder.
As we grow older and learn just how large the earth is, and our understanding of the world expands, hopefully so does our empathy, our feeling of connection. If we are fortunate enough to study the science of ecology in depth, we begin to understand what the Native Americans called the “web of life.” We begin to feel the connections all living creatures have with one another, including ourselves. We also begin to see how our behaviors and activities as human beings impact the natural world, in large and small ways. Yes, we even begin to see that it is really not such a large world after all, but rather a small world, where absolutely everything affects everything else. Consider the butterfly effect.
We are all touched one way or another by the many wars our country has been engaged in, and still is, not to forget the war faring nature of other countries. The trauma of war is very real in all our lives. We feel it, even if we are not personally engaged. No one is exempt from the so called “toxic stress” created by our warriors coming home crippled, be it physically or mentally, or both. We read it in the news, in books, and hear it on the TV. And now, yes, the war is continuing here at home in our cities and schools. So, is it any surprise that in our country, we are experiencing more deaths due to drug overdoses, mass shootings, and suicides? No surprise at all, in my mind, though very sad.
Another more subtle type of war is being conducted against our precious planet, which is indeed our mother. Mothers provide the sustenance and caring needed for a child to grow, and, of course, fathers provide protection and nurture as well. But, not always. Broken families are a symptom of something gone very wrong. The same can be said about political strife and ecological damage, created by both war and consumerism. We want to provide and protect our own, but at what cost? It seems the world is getting smaller all the time.
However, as these various symptoms of greed and dysfunction come out of hiding, hitting us hard in the gut, people are waking up. At least, that is every caring person’s hope. As our worlds intersect and consciousness grows, better solutions are giving birth as well. One case in point would be the solar and wind industries, the expansion of which will play a huge part in the transition we direly need away from life-killing technologies, which have been—and still are—polluting and damaging essential natural ecosystems.
Our earth is one huge network of interconnections. The melting of the Arctic icecap and Greenland’s icy protection is already affecting the Gulf Stream, which is creating a much colder Europe. Just this winter, it made the water so cold that beaches in North Wales, England, are witnessing miles and miles of dead starfish and other small aquatic creatures, which depend on the Gulf Stream warmth. A recent photo of these beaches sent chills up my spine. Yes, dear friends, climate disruption is real, and I believe there is no answer in sight so long as we continue to live our consumeristic lives to the hilt as though there is no tomorrow. Some day there may be no tomorrow. Just sayin’.
A very wise man long ago warned us not to heap treasures up on earth. But we went ahead and did it, anyway. Living simply, with less, and closer to the web of the earth, recognizing our place in it as well as the importance of other entities besides the human being, are the first steps we must all take in order to turn this immense problem around. Then, of course, the next step is to be better stewards of the earth’s resources and to problem solve.
We are all war weary. We are all traumatized. We are all interconnected in this very small world that we once thought was so huge. I wish you all well on your journeys through these wild and difficult times.
My apologies for such a wild essay, but I do tend to be a bit “On The Wild Side.”
