Category: Humanity

What Nature Demands

Our chickens free range and not in a confined space. It means you’re likely to see chickens anywhere on the property. And of course that means every day is an egg hunt. We try to locate the nests before skunks, ‘possums or raccoons do. 

We were lucky to locate two sitting hens and move them to safe quarters. Seventeen chicks were born and pranced behind their fearless mothers.  Later a third hen yielded another six chicks. 

All seemed well until a predator unlocked the coop and killed all but one chick. Certain it was a raccoon; we set a live trap and ensured the third hen and her chicks were secure in another coop.

Next morning the trap was full of one extra large raccoon. But his audacity knew no bounds as he had ripped a board from the smaller coop and killed the hen and five of her chicks.

These are the times that challenge my desire to be peaceful. I’ve caught wild animals before, but none had demonstrated the strength and cunning of this big guy. And now we had to drive him away and set him free. 

His ferocity was intimidating, but the task was to free him and the hope was that he preferred his freedom to retaliation.

All ended well as he ran from the cage and scurried off.

We returned to find the solitary survivor chirping away, eager to live and to tell us all about it. We found two more nests in safe locations, so the chickens will do as they are meant to do and procreation will continue.

We’ll set traps for those who also do what their nature demands of them. 

And I will work hard to be true to our nature of love and compassion.

The Greatest Lie

Two hundred and fifteen children’s bodies were unearthed at a former residential school for Indigenous youth. Forced assimilation was the hallmark of schools throughout North America. 

And we are finally acknowledging the 1921 massacre of Tulsa’s thriving Black community, as we continue to uncover the systematic racism that haunts us.  

These are not merely historical one-offs. The mindset that created them is alive and permeates all dominant cultures. It’s a sickness that forbids diversity and that is why trans people are among today’s targets. It’s a virus willing to stifle anything and anyone that may interrupt its control and that is why children from Palestine are routinely arrested, as are imprisoned Uighurs of China and on and on…

If we view these atrocities as separate issues, change seems hopeless. How can we possibly stop all inhuman acts? We lack the will and our excuses are endless. But if we look to the source of the sickness…we have a chance.

Our sensibilities give way to self-destruction. Our insistence on conformity and our inability to see ourselves in another allow ignorance to thrive. It’s not enough to “love the sinner and not the sin”, as my Christian friends are eager to say.  No, it is best to slay the dragon of judgment that we each carry. 

It’s not enough to cry for the two hundred and fifteen children and their families, rather we must stop perpetuating the greatest ignorance of humankind: that we are separate from the whole. It is the greatest lie.

One people. One planet. Every action carries consequence. Every silence is betrayal.

Print / photo compliments of wikimedia commons.

For more on the evolution of humankind, Listen to John Trudell.

Hold Onto Wonder

In years past I traveled the world. Humanity’s contrasts of life styles and beliefs are a marvel, but it was witnessing our similarities that touched me. At the end of the day, we all want and need the same things. Good food, clean water, fresh air, “a little elbow room”* to live as we please, and peace. Settling into farm life, I questioned if my travel discoveries had come to an end… but now it seems the world comes here.

This region is a magnet for people seeking to enjoy the natural world and a simpler way of life. There is migration afoot in this melting pot of milk and honey and I’m grateful for the kaleidoscope of diversity and the richness it brings.  

People often say, “It feels like home,” and I smile because the “home” to which they refer is not the terrain. It’s in the welcome, the beauty and the acceptance. “Home is where the heart is” most surely and when we live within our heart, we’re always at home.

They visit in one season or another and usually leave wanting to see them all. The stars are the same stars, the moon is the same moon, but living outside the neon jungle is a rare gift and those who have not lost the wonder of it appreciate the darkness. 

And in all of this coming and going and listening to each other’s stories, I learn why one has said she’s from Burma instead of Myanmar, and glean deeper understanding of Palestine from a young Muslim couple. 

For a brief time difference is irrelevant and human sweetness is victor once more.

Hold onto wonder. It opens the door to Love.

Hold Israel Accountable

What’s happening to Palestinians is a crime against humanity. Eleven days of Israeli bombs have, with full knowledge and disregard, wiped out entire families, schools, hospitals and communities. Still the government of Netanyahu refuses to let up. 

Make no mistake it is genocide.

Yes, Hamas chose to retaliate the Israeli police attacks on Palestinians in Jerusalem. Much like Geronimo refused to go quietly into the hell of his oppressors. Much like Jewish men and women of the Warsaw Ghetto fought against the Nazis in 1943.  

No one should die. Either side. Innocents are caught in the cross fire. Dominant culture exacts its power aided by United States weaponry and yet another president unwilling to hold Israel accountable. 

But how surprised should we be? Zionist thinking fuels this “good Christian nation” and our history’s attempt to exterminate Native people was a playbook for Hitler’s holocaust. 

We could end this horrible tragedy with one strong united voice.

But we have not yet learned that it is a very few people pulling the strings of war. We haven’t learned that our collective voice for peace could prevail, but for that to happen the silent must speak.

Yes, the silent must speak, those who have grown weary of their allegiance to hatred even though it comes in the form of religion and government. 

Yes, the silent must speak, those who have not lost compassion and are brave and loving enough to say, “No more.”

It’s wise to remember that a people are not their government. Jewish people the world over – and in Israel – are standing for peace. 

Everyone knows the blockade of Gaza; the injustice and loss of life are inhuman. To remain quiet now is to sanction Israeli apartheid.

Let us act on our humanity. Speak up.

image compliments of wikimedia commons and Carlos Latuff

Awakening Our Humanity

As a child, I went to church every Sunday. But that’s not where I learned to pray. 

Prayer was what came through my Italian grandmother as she sang to me. Prayer was imbedded in the final words my father said to me each night, “God bless you always”.  My mother had the amazing ability to curb her rage with prayer. Like a tuning fork I could feel it.

I’ve always gravitated to those who could drink from the cup within. It never mattered to whom they prayed, or for what. There is something in that humanness that touches me. Something in that desire to be heard that assures me.

I can’t find it in the prayers that are made like lists to Santa Claus or are scribed by another long ago. I find this shared humanness in the silence behind the words and it is in the heart not in the ears where it’s felt.

I had the good fortune to find my way to a Navajo Grandmother who guided me towards Walk in Beauty. And it was the prayers of the people at the camps at Standing Rock that beckoned me and held me there.  

So it’s of little surprise that the prayers for justice are awakening my humanity once again. And after the guilty verdict was announced each person who spoke carried the ancestral trauma and the ancestral strength that I could recognize and feel. Their prayers were powerful and offered with certainty.

And I can add my plea to theirs: that we embrace our humanity; that we see one another as kin; that fear and intolerance be dissipated by love and kindness. 

And that humility will outlast power. 

The verdict was not an ending but a beginning. 

And prayer without effort is futile.  

photo: Creative Commons

No Mandate for Kindness

The Wisconsin Supreme Court once again shut down the mask mandate for the state. Within moments jubilation was resounding in the streets, in the market, on social media and even in our little library. 

Sitting quietly there, I heard this conversation from behind, “Oops, I can’t believe I forgot my mask. “ Then another, “You don’t need it. Do you have your shots?”  The voice got closer and she coughed right behind my chair, “yeah, you don’t need masks now, no mandate.”

Yep. She’s right, there is no mandate for common sense and there never was a mandate for kindness. 

To all who have received shots and believe you are impervious…clearly you have not read the fine print. Vaccinations may or may not stop you from contracting the virus. It may only decrease the severity. And your ability to carry the virus means you may still spread it to others.  

Tuesday was Election Day. I was grateful to see our poll workers masked and distancing. But apparently other towns were intent on flaunting their “freedoms” and callously displayed the ignorance gripping our nation and refusing to let go.

It doesn’t matter if you believe that masks work or don’t. It doesn’t matter that leadership is more eager to battle than to help. It doesn’t matter if you’re a liberal anti-vaxer or a conservative science hater. The sideshows don’t matter.

What matters is your consideration of others. What matters is your willingness to recognize that in this moment of time we are all interconnected. What matters is your ability to care.

People are still dying. Mutations are still occurring. This worldwide crisis is separating living human beings from those who are merely pretending. 

The only way to beat this pandemic is to become respectful human beings. Therein lies your freedom. 

Photo courtesy:  Dcpeopleandeventsof2017/wikimediacommons

Reversing Apathy

“It will never change”. This phrase pops up a lot these days when conversations turn towards conscientious gun laws, ending systemic racism, reversing climate change…you name it. 

Whatever demands we move towards more humane and dignified living, people are quick to say, “it can never happen”.

Really? Of course change can happen. Change is the one thing you can be sure of…but how will it change? In what direction will it change? Will we dive deeper into division, pummeled by lobbyists devoted to violence and war? Will self-serving politicians and clergy manipulate us?  Or will we overcome the apathy that accompanies our unconsciousness?

In a matter of four years, we changed from a country whose whispered racist undertones rose to a crescendo. Who are we, with our doubts and our unconscious apathy, to think we can stop it from changing again – this time for the better?

Martin Luther King was very right when he spoke of the silence of our friends and the mediocrity of whites as being the greatest enemies of humanity and justice. And I add this to his list of enemies: doubt. We doubt our power because we do not know our power. We have not yet understood the strength of our humanity.

When we realize our interconnectedness, we will stop being satisfied with our own personal status quo. Activists call it intersectional thinking. I call it common sense. When empathy and compassion reign in our hearts, they will again reign in our land.

As a nation we refused to protect ourselves from a pandemic just as we have repeatedly refused to protect ourselves from gun violence. 

But it’s not too late. 

Change will come, of that there is no doubt. But the direction change will take… that is still within our grasp. Get in the game.

Above meme credit: Lisa Ann

In Numbness We Stand

On February 25th, the United States carried out an act of military retaliation on a Syrian village making Biden the seventh consecutive president to bomb the Middle East. Senators Kaine and Murphy called for congressional hearings on the legality of the bombing. Representative Ro Khanna made it clear that without imminent threat the president must get Congressional approval…but so it goes.

We are a nation of people unwilling to end war. Words like “necessary deterrent” and “collateral damage” have made us numb to the blood on our hands. The Syrian village was bombed in retaliation to an earlier airstrike in Iraq that killed a Philippine contractor and wounded a United States soldier – let that sink in. Various reports indicate that we killed 3 to 22 people. Nobody knows for sure and those that care are intentionally not heard. Oh and the village was “believed to be” occupied by militias. That’s right, “believed to be”.

The smoke and mirrors of both parties in using our military, our soldiers, and our name to preserve and protect the precious oil in the Middle East is horrifying. And yet it continues. It continues because we have grown numb. We accept the headlines and stop reviewing the details. 

We have forsaken the sanctity of life. We cannot be bothered to demand tools of diplomacy be our first choice. Yet our weapons become more sophisticated, more deadly and more expensive. 

And today’s greatest lie is “we must preserve our way of life”, while we bomb villages, and destroy the earth for fossil fuels and to fill a few wealthy pockets.

We have relied on “might is right” for far too long. I look forward to the day when one human life is as valuable as another and this Christian nation lives up to its boasts.

Photo compliments of Creative Commons Attribution – Wikimedia Commons

Give Way to the Living

If we are to emerge as human beings from this pandemic and economic insecurity we will do well to submerge ourselves in some basic truth telling. 

The reign of fossil fuels is over. The latest message to the folks living in Texas was very clear. Source your food, water and energy locally. 

The war on drugs was an abysmal failure. It gave way to exploitive incarceration of people of color and those of lessor means. It opened the door to senseless violence and greed.

The rise of white supremacy and the infiltration into our police and military is not new. Protection of property over people is a right of class. That class employs ruthless tactics and people to maintain control. The unraveling of the commons was an intentional construct to divide us and to protect property.  

The belief that “might is right” deems the powerful as unstoppable. But power without humility is devoid of Love and shows itself in dehumanizing ways. Power, without humility, exploits every bit of Creation. Without Love you are an agent of death and creator of your own demise. 

But in the midst of the destruction, there are people turning around centuries of injustice. They’re standing on the shoulders of their ancestors and refusing to sacrifice Love and their humanity regardless of outcome. They’re reclaiming human wisdom with compassion and kindness.

You will find us on front lines as Water Protectors, Mutual Aid Workers, Seed Savers, Community Builders and more. We are emerging in every facet of society. 

Look around; you have a choice. Continue to prop up the cult of death in its many forms, or give way to the living, because it is our time. 

Photo credit: Learn more about John Trudell John Trudell was a poet, recording artist, actor and speaker whose international following reflects the universal language of his words, work and message.

“We Should All Be Water Protectors”*

Writing from a hotel after visiting the StopLine3.org Welcoming Center in Palisade, Minnesota.

In the wake of destruction, the pandemic opened a door for us to walk into a new day.  Our consumption of fossil fuels is at an all time low. The need for extreme extraction is over. Good by KXL. The pipeline that would have sliced through the Ogallala aquifer is history. And DAPL will be next. The courts are getting ready to end the permits that should have never been granted and for the arrogance of a company that has ignored court orders and kept on pumping. 

This is the last gap of oil. 

And yet Enbridge continues with Line 3 – leaving the older corroded pipeline for us to clean up.  Investors are jumping ship facing the reality that renewables are a far safer alternative. And many of us are coming to the realization that less is more as we leave an abusive relationship with over – consumption behind.  

We have all noticed the pristine skies and the fresher air. And now it is time for the reckoning of corroded pipelines that pierce the land and waterways.  Now is time for everyone to be a water protector as Winona LaDuke reminds us.

So as a water protector what can you do? You can reduce consumption and divest from fossil fuels. You can write letters to Governor Walz, to congress and the new administration. You can support the needs of those on the front lines, as they stand in nonviolent resistance, to end something that should have never gone this far. 

And if you are able as we were to bear witness you can make the trip to 5 or 6 camps that dot the 300-mile pathway of destruction and bring your love, support and the supplies they need to carry on.

Let’s make this just transition for everyone.

*”We should all be water protectors.” – Winona LaDuke