Many years ago, when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in a country with
two seasons (rainy, not rainy), I realized that for me and many of my
fellow Volunteers, the time we associated with new beginnings was
autumn, not spring. That seemed true again on Tuesday, when
millions of us took a giant step out of a particularly dark part of
our national history and elected a Black American as our
president. I have always felt that the great flaw of our nation
was that we began with a lie: "All men are created equal," we said,
but it was not true. Not true for slaves or Native Americans or for
many of the immigrant groups that followed. President-elect Obama
does not carry, either in his genes or his psyche, the residue of
"slave" or "slave-holder" yet in some mysterious way, the very FACT
of his election helps all of us to see ourselves and each other in a
kinder light and, I hope, grope our way toward forgiveness and
reconciliation.
It would be naive to think we have instantly erased the ugliness of
racism and bigotry from our collective psyche. After years of an EX-
clusive way of going about the world --- especially with our current
administration, whose largesse is distributed to a very narrow
category of "people like us" --- we must now each embrace and embody
an IN-clusive way of being if we are to create a real
transformation and become who we always thought we were. It is a
great work that culminates in the truth that indeed, all men ARE
created equal in these United States. I rejoice that we have come
this far. For the first time in what seems like ages, it feels good
to be an American. Congratulation to us all!
Congratulations also to the Swiss. A recent article in THE WALL
STREET JOURNAL described that country's requirement that the dignity
of plants as well at of animals must now be safeguarded. A panel of
philosophers, lawyers, geneticists and theologians was charged by the
Swiss parliament to establish the meaning of flora's dignity. (Laws
regarding treatment of animals are already stringent.) Part of their
22-page treatise stated that vegetation has an inherent value and
that it is immoral to arbitrarily harm plants. They also said that
the dignity of plants could be safeguarded "as long as their
independence, i.e., reproductive ability and adaptive ability, are
ensured." While there is much derision, hand-wringing and
complaints from crop geneticists and sticky questions from nearly
everybody (What about microbes and viruses? e.g.), the basic point is
to keep a tight rein on plant genetics so that some mutant strain
doesn't run amok and harm the environment. It reminds me that Gaia
said scientists must ask permission of those life forms it
experiments on, even ask them for advice and if they can't
communicate themselves, they need someone with them who can.
Switzerland's requirements don't go that far, but they seem to be
thinking ahead of nearly everyone's curve and I applaud them for that.
In the same article, there was a paragraph saying that the people of
Ecuador had voted for a new constitution that recognizes ecosystem
rights, which are enforceable in the courts. The nation's rivers,
forests and air have "the right to exist, persist and . . .
regenerate." They are no longer merely "property." Wow.
Congratulations to the Ecuadoreans too!
What the hay, congratulations to everyone everywhere for choosing to
be alive in this fascinating, accelerated, demanding time! Truly we
are blessed.
Love to you all, Fran
Fran Gatins
www.satolahsingularities.com
www.polkadotbanner.com
http://awakemotherearth.blogspot.com/
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Mary Oliver
