Hey kids! It’s Friday! We all made it to pizza night. Well, that’s what it is around here. If you disagree may I assure you that you are wrong. Just sayin’.
We got the veggie garden in this week. The usual cukes, peppers, and eggplant. We also have a lot of strawberries happening. The plants wintered well and are full of ripening fruit. Now the war against weeds kicks into high gear. Got my hoe at the ready!
Earlier this week I was watching a show on TV. It showed an eagle in New Zealand, perhaps a Katu, flying and gliding over the open and rugged landscape. I was captured by this lone predator in its search for its next meal. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to watch an eagle as it circles high in the sky then you get what I’m saying. They are majestic animals. They are a symbol of strength and independence.
But are they? Yeah they are not flocking birds. Many mate for life and that’s pretty much the only social interaction that they have. We think, therefore, that they are completely self-sufficient with no ties to the rest of creation. Yet, they are integral parts of the ecosystem. They hunt and control pests that would otherwise destroy crops. Without these great predators imbalances in the environment could have far reaching destructive effects. Get the ecosystem out of balance and lots of mean and nasty things are bound to happen.
Human relationships run a similar course. Especially in the West we hold as ideal the image of the self-made person who is not dependent on anyone or anything. They pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and achieve whatever dream it is that they pursue. Over time this idea has produced a society that is completely fragmented. People build walls that they can hide behind. In the guise of being I dependent these walls actually hide and protect us from the evils that lurk “out there.” These are an illusion. Our interdependence can’t be so easily denied or ignored. Our species is designed for community. We are the only social animal that can deny that it is social. We are dependent upon each other and the ecosystems that we share with all creatures. Try as we might we can never be that Marlboro man riding the hills of Wyoming.
It’s sad, really. A people divided is a people condemned. So often we think of that in political terms. To divide and conquer. Today’s political world in the U.S. is a perfect example of this. Leaders seek to divide us along culture war lines. Rather than discuss acceptable and unacceptable policies, they try to control the narratives of society in order to create castes of acceptable and unacceptable people. In the confusion folks don’t know who to turn to, who is friend or enemy. Division is unnatural for humanity. Just as it is in the wider world. Yet we have been convinced people who desire power and wealth and control that we are truly insulated from each other. That our neighbor is our enemy. That those who don’t look like us or think like us are ‘others’ who want to rob us and rule over us. This whole idea is a lie.
I could go on with a bunch of platitudes while singing ‘Kumbaya.’ That’s the image that, for the lack of a better term, the Destroyers wants to hold up. Anyone who seeks unity is little more than a crazy tree-hugger who drinks green tea and eats kale. We aren’t. I don’t like green tea. We need to try to change that narrative. There are people in every age who see this and work to change it. We, however, have means to communicate and stand in the discussions where the side of unity may be spoken and accepted by millions of people. I do this from a religious point of view. Especially since religion has been co-opted by the Destroyers. Not everyone reading this is religious. That’s a good thing! All of us are, however, human. Our existence is threatened by the cultural ideal of the strong, independent person who needs no one. Wrong! WE NEED EACH OTHER! WE NEED ALL OF THE OTHER PARTICIPANTS IN THE ECOSYSTEM!
Without these we will surely diminish.
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