Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Ocean is My Mentor

It almost seems as if I can feel the ocean screaming. I have always felt connected to the ocean, beyond connected really. The ocean is my mentor. Throughout my life it has mothered me, healed me, and sang to me.

Now, I can feel a definite change as I stare in gaping mouth at the flagrant disregard for humanity and our precious earth, by so called commerce. I watch our Atlantic Coastline taking the full brunt of humanities assault with humility it seems for now. But I know her so well. Once she lifts her head up from her fatal injuries she is going to have her say. As any mother worth her salt, she will admonish her children for having forsaken her as they kneel weeping at her feet inconsolable with guilt. Well one can only hope. We humans have taken more than has ever been our right to, from our mother earth. We have had the luxury of taking this earth for granted from the beginning of time. The very blood of her existence, water, is poisoned because of the greed of her children. Like any mother, she gives willingly, but I don’t think it will be quietly. There is a horrific lesson to learn here when we all will eventually get the “howler” on this one.

The entire catastrophe is insulting and makes me personally feel ashamed for these people in charge of such a huge responsibility. It has become painfully obvious that they lack not only integrity but the maturity to handle so great a responsibility. Oh wait that’s right, greed is never responsible for its behavior is it? Ok well let’s just say that is true. Everything in equal measure to consequence is a universal law. The one thing humanity cannot get around. Oh it may seem to for a time, but sooner or later karma washes up unto shore and makes toxic sand cookies.

Every one of us has seen mother earth take back everything that was always rightfully hers. But she has been a good mother to us. We should handle her not with fear or brute force, but with love. We have pummeled, pumped and purged every part of her precious resources. From rocks we get diamonds. We build kingdoms and legacy for generations to inherit. Our homes, our clothes our technology all gleamed from the bounty this world has to offer. Yet we still have so little regard for the life the earth gives us and for human life itself which is evident by war and neglect and worse. We can recycle, turn off lights, we can call ourselves “green” thinking we are somehow giving back. But compared to what we have already collectively taken, can we honestly say we are giving back? Sometimes the best way to give back is not to take in the first place.

The one thing every country has in common regardless of culture is the wanting of “stuff”. It sickens me to watch leaders play tug of war games over oil instead of learning how to share and embrace diversity and care for one another. Basic principles I struggled to teach my own children seem to be lost on the mighty. Now the mighty may not even have a sandbox. At least not one they’ll be willing to wiggle their toes in. We have no idea what the impact this BP event will have on our great grand kids.

I’m so confused why we don’t learn from our mistakes. For example; in the 1800’s our government gave land to farmers in what is now referred to as the “dust bowl”. These farmers were encouraged to farm the land, seems innocent enough. But in doing so they scourged the earth of its protective foliage which kept the earth from rising into dust storms in four states. By the 1930’s the area suffered long droughts. As the winds rose, they blew miles of earth thousands of feet into the air and traveled at up to hundred and fifty miles an hour. These were called “black storms” and would last up at three days at time and one of these storms hit from Alabama to New York City. The loss of life was catastrophic and some of the regions hit by these storms have still never recovered, so much for commerce, right? The government was apprised of the situation years prior but did nothing until it literally showed up on their doorstep.

The point is, we have many of these references and we still don’t learn. The precious eco systems are not going to just stay and play nice in areas we’ve “decided” to designate them in. We have wild life reserves, and call ourselves protecting forests, while our hand is still in the cookie jar with drills piercing the earth like needles digging thousands of miles for oil. How do we actually know what the impact will be because of this? The earth works in perfect and delicate balance with itself. Oil may in fact protect or rather lubricate some greater part of our planetary core. Perhaps keeping plates from shifting even more violently then they do, perhaps even assisting a greater balance with gravity as it relates to our solar system. We don’t know everything. This is acutely apparent with our situation in the gulf.

As children of the earth, we can do more to secure and preserve what is left of it. How? By shifting our priorities and changing our collective minds and value set. If we work together and value life itself over “stuff” I believe it will have a global impact on our humanity, on our commerce and its integrity and ultimately our planet.

The tongue and cheek approach our media is taking with this BP tragedy cannot in any way minimize the devastation it’s creating. Nor can there be an attempt to “manage perceptions” to the public which is what most of corporate America does. Our manufactures have found a way to put petroleum, which is a derivative of crude oil in everything we use, by “managing our perceptions”. It’s in everything from our lotions to our cosmetics. Perhaps there is no way to stop everyone from driving cars, but maybe we can do something on a smaller scale, by each of us refusing to buy products containing petroleum. Aside from alternative fuel sources, we have alternatives to other things as well. By the way, hi Jojoba and hemp oil how are yah!?!
I am just a nobody and maybe my little two cents on all of this may seem to be naïve. But we have to start somewhere and make a stand with greater intention then we have ever had before. Shame is not enough. Some loss can mean forever. If we don’t mama’s gonna get the last word. She always does.


By the way must read article in Herald de Paris “It’s Not a Spill” http://www.heralddeparis.com/?s=It%27s+Not+A+Spill

Want to see if the products in your cabinets have petroleum?
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

Greed cannot, must not win.



*****

2 comments:

  1. Great job mom! Like you always said we've been washing the chemicals off our bodies into our oceans...

    Hey everyone, Debra Joy's son here. If you'd like to know more about what is in your consumer products, check out this website.

    http://www.ewg.org/

    Then click on "SKIN DEEP" in the middle of the right hand column. You can then type in a product name and find out its health hazard.

    Some products have not been studied yet. (however their chemicals have been). In this case, you can either: type in the specific ingredient, from the ingredient list on the product; or submit a request to E.W.G. to have the product researched...

    Now I understand that we cannot completely keep ourselves from the hazards, but we can make a conscious effort to reduce our exposure, usage, and consumption; raising our vibration and our ability to have affirmative thoughts and feelings...
    Use this as a tool, input EVERY product in your house see what you find; because the chemicals DO affect our ability to think positively and manifest our desires.
    I would suggest staying away from the chemicals that have a health hazard score between 7-10.
    I promise you will feel better knowing that you are doing something for yourself as well as the environment.

    I love you Mom, just want to put in my 2 cents too
    Sincerely,
    David

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  2. Thank you so much for this very truthful and clear depiction of what I believe is going on. We have been raping our Mother Earth for so Long and this time GREED just went way too far... I have often wondered what the function of OIL in the Earth is.. and what happens when we remove it...I thought precisely that it is a lubricant for the Plates and it keeps the violence downas the plates move, but as it is depleted the TREMORS WILL BECOME BIGGER AS WE HAVE SEEN, LATELY.
    I feel so sad and helpless about what is happening in the beautiful Gulf Of Mexico where I spent so many Summer days fishing with my Dad and enjoying the beaches of Corpus Christi & Galveston in my school years. It tears at my heart to see the helpless Animals dying in the poisonous muck and mire that BP has created. They look so sad and so surprised to be in the fix they are in...if they could talk would they ask, "why are you doing this to us?" And the ocean, if it could talk would it say, "What's wrong with you people, don't you understand what I mean to your Life, on this Planet?"
    I love what you wrote here. Thank you.
    My name means: Alamar:To The Sea...and it just breaks my Heart.
    I can only turn to the UNIVERSE AND REQUEST THAT S/HE SOLVE THIS PROBLEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND I PROMISE TO DO MY PART TO STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING AGAIN.
    Namaste, Alamar

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