What a difference a few weeks makes, no? Hard to believe what has happened to our world in such a short span of time. And on the one hand, there’s all the upsides: reduced emissions, cleaner waters, the return of wildlife, a reset of nature. Beautiful. As a global community we have been poor and careless stewards of this glorious planet we were gifted and so a time-out is fitting. We need to think about what we’ve done and yes, even though we weren’t all big polluters or responsible for the individual disasters like oil spills, we are collectively responsible. So our collective time-out is like making all the kids pay for what one or a few did. Y’all shoulda made ’em stop or told somebody so now ERRRBODY gon’ sit dey ass down!! Not entirely analogous but you get the point. We messed up. We all used too much plastic, drove when we didn’t need to, wasted, ignored, became complacent. Or we were ugly or lax in some other way. Whatever it was, now we have plenty of time indeed, after being sent to our rooms, to think about those mistakes. How will we do better when punishment is over? Will we go back to our same ways, having learned nothing? Or will we make concerted efforts to do better? Time will tell. As we have been largely confined to our rooms, many have lost jobs or are spending day after day at home with family or alone, having to deal with whatever lives we created for ourselves before this massive shift occurred. I don’t know what we’re headed for but I do know that each one of us has a responsibility to the collective – to act in a way that will preserve the peace and beauty we now see that clearly exists when we don’t screw it up. We have a duty to act responsibly, to put positive thoughts into the world, into the cosmos because one kindness begets another and and a good feeling here will lead to a better gesture there. Why snap and snarl? Why slack, cheat and lie? That starts the domino reaction of bad effects that eventually make their way back to us. So be thoughtful. Be kind. Take the extra step to clean up your own mess, acknowledge and fix your mistakes. Be generous and compassionate. And when it’s your turn to receive may you be reminded of all you did to bring that to pass. |
