Live Simply so Others May Simply Live
Yesterday I was tempted to buy a Kermit the Frog t-shirt because he says it’s easy to be green. But I didn't, because my eco-intention is not about being green as much as it's focused on becoming more humble each day. I want to truly and deeply comprehend what it means to see those people, creatures and ecosystems living downstream from my impact, my daily steps in complete mutuality. I first became aware of a global consciousness with a "joke" while in elementary school. Someone pulled the skin on either side of her neck and asked "What am I?" Dunno. "An Ethiopian choking on a grain of rice," she laughed. How can that be funny? How did we begin to laugh at someone's traumatic fate? How did we become so completely disengaged? And for today, is the plight of an animal losing its habitat or life for us to grow more food for people any different?
Scientists say we’ve tipped the scales too far and sustainability cannot be achieved with a human population our size. That it would take several earths to support the American dream for every person on the planet. Species go extinct, people suffer, and wilderness disappears every moment of everyday with no real solution for our unintended consequence. Makes you want to give up when you see the futility of it all. But, do you throw the baby out with the bath water and truly give it all up? What if you only had three months, two weeks, one day to live? Would you cry it away, blow it all on some high, or would you try to make each moment count? Would you look for the beauty in the minute details, expand your world by finding worlds within worlds, like Horton Hears a Who? Would you mend relationships and seek to see everyone and everything through the eyes of love and equality?
When everything is lost there is everything to gain.So in honor of Earth Day, I’ve begun the commitment to ride the train 70 miles to see my boyfriend, rather than drive in my self-contained, self-absorbed mode of transportation, aka my car. Certainly it’s a better adventure.I’m more connected. I saw a guy in English punk drab speaking Spanish and I wondered about his story. Another guy in full L.A. Lakers regalia took pictures of the San Clemente Pier for his girlfriend who loves the beach. I parked my bike with other bikers and wondered what it would be like to be part of their tribe and ride my bike around the world with just my packed panniers. This is my “sacrifice,” or holy offering on this Good Friday, to live simply so that others may simply live.
