By Lynda Shadbolt
I have always believed that change comes from the bottom up.
That every single person that shares this planet has a responsibility to take care of it. To make choices that benefit all beings.
If I relate it to our bodies, we wouldn’t want to take drugs that will help our lungs but would cause our liver to quit working.
We wouldn’t want to ignore our brain health so that our heart keeps beating.
We always want every cell in our body to be healthy. It’s the same with our planet. We want and need healthy water and clean air to breathe. We want habitat and homes and good food for all beings.
Everyone deserves respect and to feel safe. We want a healthy planet for our great grandchildren to grow up on. I saw a large piece of art recently that was a bunch of bees, and the caption on it said “If we go, we are taking you with us.”
It is a reminder that what we do to the one, we do to the whole. I recently read an article that talked about the wisdom traditions considering the idea of “wise society”.
A society that is based on mutual respect, protection and care for all beings and the entire planet. Who wouldn’t want to live in a society like this? Mutual respect, care for all beings. I write this article on a day when the air quality is so poor in Haliburton.
It is hazy, and I can taste the smoke in the back of my throat. It is hard not to feel despair for the planet. And then I pick my sad little self up, and I join with my qigong group and we do a class dedicated to the trees and the firefighters.
We remember that we are connected to all of life and life is connected to us. We take care of each other and then go to our families and our friends and continue to contemplate how we can contribute to a wise society.
What are the daily choices we make that help, and what contributes to a healthier planet and those who live on it? There are lots of issues, and lots of causes to consider. We don’t have to do it all, we just have to do our part to contribute.
My neighbour just watched a huge snapping turtle lay her eggs at the end of the driveway. They have watched her come to this spot for years, and her eggs never hatch. This year, they called the Turtle Guardians who came and are incubating the eggs for the mother turtle. They will return the turtles that hatch to the spot where they were laid.
One small action that makes a difference. Turtles, bees and all of us matter in a wise society.
