Basking in the Now
As the month of June, 2023 was reported to be the hottest month that has ever been reported on Planet Earth, and this July is looking to break that record, I found myself itching for some relief. This relief can of course come with a sturdy and wieldy air conditioner. Possibly, a community pool. However, sometimes a different type of relief is needed. The relief that reminds us that somehow everything will be okay, even when climate change, and greedy business executives swipe right in corner offices for the chance at biodiversity destruction.
So with that in mind, here is some writing I did this year.
What do we Live for?
Even for the most privileged person, life can be quite challenging. However, for the vast majority, our day to day is managed chaos. This has been true for all of history. The Neanderthal fossils we’ve found have healed as many injuries as contemporary bull-riding, rodeo participants. Yet, their species survived for 100,000 years in Eurasia with inhospitable conditions. Mother Nature offers us her home, but she’s unattached to the outcome. We look back in history, and there is nowhere to land when life wasn’t incredibly strenuous for a large majority of the population.
In established societies, the majority is often facing the brunt of the force, while the minority ferments their efforts into aged wine. The well-being of the whole begging for a larger middle class. The Anthropocene is home to the 6th mass extinction, and we ride this wave, rather it’s in our thoughts and prayers, in our actions, or out of view. Mother Nature’s not keeping any promises to her occupants. Capitalism does everything in its power to not say the dollar bill’s name in vain. Acidic oceans aren’t wiping away the tears of all that’s been done in the name of that dollar bill. So many are suffering, for so few to live with more wealth than the world has ever seen, and what for? What do we get up, greet the day, feed the cats, heat the bean water, for?
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What Makes Life Beautiful
If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention
Injustice, poverty, depression, anxiety, and a biodiversity crisis
There is a lot to grieve, and a bad day is warranted, the weather is
climactic
The climate is in conversation
A bad day simply points to all the pain you have not solved
What Makes Life Beautiful is
The other side of the same coin
The in-between moments
When awe sinks in, for all that you have been, every stone you’ve turned, and all that you have left to
When you look back at every hurdle you’ve braised, but still managed to land the jump
Let’s include the love that pervades just enough to carry you on, from one day to the next, no matter the weather
You have a climate of on-going-ness
The fate resting behind your eyes gives you another breath
If you’re not in awe, you’re not paying attention
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The point to living may be unclear, perhaps words fail in these conversations, the answer to such a question can only be found in a peripheral view with the sound of a lion's roar shaking the gravel. Or, in a long-held gaze that announces, I am here too. The answer may lie where our throats choke, our words stumble, and our vulnerabilities ask for the room. However, one thing is for certain, clear eyes always see purpose. That bean water waits for us in the morning, the cats stick their tails straight up and whine to continue living, as you cannot seem to reach their food bowls fast enough for their frenzied tongues to find life in death. The obligatory carnivores enrich themselves in a feast, cleaning their paws in a purr as it is time for a well-earned nap, all the while you’re heading off to a hectic I-94. A freeway on top of buried bodies, an interstate that didn’t ask for permission to cut through migratory paths, or to become a predator to hungry deer and mindless drivers.
Let's look to Mother Nature in our time of need, the reason behind less screen time and forest bathing improving our health. Mother Nature offers us an answer. Generosity: offer yourself as a space in which others are allowed to be. The foundation of life is a single celled organism that contracts against dangers and expands towards more life. The house cats sticking up their tails and howling for existence's sake. The lion roaring, establishing their place in this world, asserting their position in the hierarchy. Humans surviving, against all odds, relentless in our innovation, robust skulls, and willing thumbs to sew another garment, allowing us warmth for days to come. Conceivably, we’ve had the answer all along, we just might our way against the very wave we’re standing on. The 6th mass extinction, and a Mother who will offer her land for one more day.