Dance, play Jenga, or swim?

Wishing each other a happy Earth Day sounds absolutely ludicrous considering few wish that truly enough to care whether the Earth herself is “happy”, or whether the billions of life forms on this planet will have the opportunity to be “happy”

There’s no happy on a dead planet

No Earth days, no birthdays, no life to celebrate

It’s absurd to have a single annual day to honour the living entity we are all part of and the existence of which should be deeply respected in every facet of every day

I saw photos and writeups about events today… cleanups and rallies and street parties and keynote speaker events and whatever the heck else folks planned to make a statement… some were probably well attended, but not by the media who should be doing even more than we are, and most folks just didn’t get involved

The only statement actually made (yet again) seems to be that a few of us will do anything to make the world a better place, and most of the rest of the human race is too busy for that… they either don’t care or don’t believe in themselves (or anything else) enough to get up and do the right thing

I didn’t participate in anything today… not because I don’t care, but because of too much pain… I can hardly get to the bathroom, let alone manage attending an event… it’s like voting and vaccinations and everything else so many take for granted and waste… my heart needs to do things, and wants to do so much more, and my body can’t

But where was everyone else?

I understand that many are like me, too many… and that many have families and jobs and lives and need time… environmental protest has largely been abandoned to the very young, the very old, and those in left field, because - like every other day of the year - others are busy surviving… but we’ve developed a seriously skewed idea of what surviving is

That stuff we do with most of our time isn’t surviving… a lot of it is entertainment, distraction… counterfeit responsibilities invented by circus managers to keep the clowns from setting the animals free and setting up a commune

The Deep Adaptation ideas (read Jem Bendell and find the group) make more and more sense to me… some things, like this system of being, are too broken to fix… let the Jenga tower fall, this isn’t a game… use the pieces to build a community where life itself matters more than rulebooks and winning

Why else do we exist?

To dance as the ship goes down?

Or to learn to swim… and to avoid icebergs (though those will soon only exist as metaphors and memories)

I may be sidelined and too damaged to swim, but I will never stop caring and I will never stop believing that we can be better… and hoping that some of us will be able to adapt deeply enough to be part of this planet’s healing… and that those of us who’ve never really been able to adapt to this deeply flawed system will be part of creating better ways of living

Those interested only in the short term counterfeit survival circus probably won’t survive beyond the collapse of the tent and management… but we can’t let everything die while trying to strap life jackets on dancers

I say all of this with deep respect, love, and gratitude for all who honoured the Earth today and stood up to protect her

Ann

(I've been loving and borrowing this beautiful image for a few years without knowing who to credit)