Recently (while browsing for some good prayers that new parents might like before having their first baby) I found a hilarious viral meme...
... which (after endless months of blue/red arguments over social media, rap battles, phonebanking, texting and door-to-door "getting out the vote"), I totally agree! No one should be president, except perhaps the Earth itself!
But seriously, can you believe what happens when humans focus on personalities rather than issues? Is it for this reason that we allow a type of insane spiritual blackout that Dr. Cornel West so eloquently describes? Is it for this reason that we allow corporate media to avoid everything important to the lives of civilians? Ie. healthcare, climate change, poverty, trade, guns, infrastructure, deficits, etc.?
Take for a moment, some honest facts about our modern world:
- It is estimated that 5.3 billion people, two-thirds of the world's population, will suffer from water shortages by 2025! #waterislife
- The Institute of Medicine in 2002 scientifically documented widespread racial disparities in health care and suggested they stemmed at least partly from physician bias. In one generation, between 1940 and 1999, more than 4 million African Americans died prematurely relative to whites! #blacklivesmatter
- Women-owned business' generate 61% less revenue than their male counterparts! #genderequality
- 1.1 billion gallons of pesticides are used every year! #sustainableagriculture
- There are 403 parts per billion of carbon are in the atmosphere! #changeclimatechange
Are governments performing some "morality play" for the amusement of their own ego? Why are the rich and powerful so obsessed with nation states, armies and an unnecessary colonial conquest for what they already own? How is humanity collectively writing such a terrible story for ourselves more interested in destructive villains than regenerative heroes? Could environmental chaos, nationalism, bigotry, racism and patriarchy all be the results of a self-created crisis?
If we want to continue as a species, we "earth peoples" must unite to remember our common heritage. We have no other choice. Life-sustaining and social-justice oriented solutions must overcome every industry and sector of human life. From land stewardship to human rights, we must lift up regenerative practices of living in harmony with local and global ecosystems. And because regeneration and change-making is not only in the White House or at Standing Rock, not only in the Syrian refugee camps or through the halls of United Nations. Perhaps we might all wake up tomorrow morning - election day or the next - with a new question for our days:
"What does positive change feel like in my life?"
Hint: there are 7 billion ways and counting...
