It's Earth Day!

I remember the first Earth Day.  I got a tee shirt from the National Wildlife Federation.  It had a nice design of a blue earth with all kinds of animals and flowers.
I wore it out.
If my hometown participated that first year, I never heard about it.

This year I have at least 6 local events for Earth day and a March for Science invite.  I have twice that many virtual events.  There are a couple of sales in honor of the Earth, also.  You have really made it as a holiday when stores have sales called by your name.

It's cold outside.
It's wet outside.
There will be scrambling for parking spaces and crowded outdoor venues, screaming babies that are over-stimulated and arguing, overly political adults.

I'm thinking I might just clean my house.

Eat some oatmeal.

If it actually clears up, maybe I'll do something--or maybe I'll mow.

Shouldn't EVERY day be EARTH DAY!


In honor of our sacred planet:
Hug a tree.
Smell a flower.
Walk somewhere.
Reduce, Reuse, recycle.
Don't litter.
Prevent Forest Fires.
Waste not, want not.
Bird watch.
Join a nature center.
Conserve water.
Consider Solar panels.
Buy an electric or hybrid car if you must drive.
Walk, bike, or use public transportation if you live a a place that such is possible.
Avoid insecticides and herbicides.
Buy local.
Consider Vegan.
Consider vegetarian.
Reduce your meat intake to less than 4 ounces a day.
Wear natural fiber clothing.
Avoid clothes that require drycleaning.
Avoid convenience packaging.
Ask yourself---why do I need this?
Ask yourself---is this good for the planet?
Ask yourself---What can I do to improve the world on a day to day basis.

Go outside, take off your shoes and socks, step down on the earth, feel the earth, the dirt, the plants, (try to avoid an ant hill or stickers) and close your eyes. 
Try to remember that the thing you are standing on was there before you.
Has provided your sustenance, and your ancestors sustenance.
It is not there because of you.  You are here because it exists and while there are millions of planets in endless galaxies in our universe,  it is the only one we know for sure is covered with lifeforms. 

We--all of us on this planet--are rare and miraculous.
All of us.
All.

It's not just about us humans--Happy Earth Day.

What are you willing to fight for?

If you have ever worked a job in which the work is as much about waiting and watching and handling emergencies as it is about continuous busy-ness, then you have probably had a few very odd conversations.

If you have worked nights when it is so quiet and empty that you can hear ghosts, but were not alone, there was at least one other living, breathing human, you have definitely had odd conversations.

I remember one such night with a person that frequently worked the same hours I did, in which the conversation turned to what would you have to think you were losing  that would make you fight?...make you risk dying?.... make you risk going to prison?... risk never seeing your loved ones again?

We were young--but not that young.  It was a boring night.  And frankly, the person I was speaking to had recently buried a mostly grown child and barely born grandchild after someone got angry and killed them.

She was one of the strongest people I had ever met;  Neither always angry nor always sad and pathetic.  Never overly dramatic.  And this was not the first tragic event in her life.
She was strong.  She continued.  She did what she needed to do to keep herself and her family safe and healthy.

She admitted that she would gladly spend the rest of her life in prison for killing the man that did that to her family.

Revenge--but stipulated early on that she would wait for the judicial system to do something first.

He went away forever so she continued doing what she did.

But the conversation stuck in my head.

What would I gladly die in prison for.  What would I risk death for.  What would I risk everything for.

Our young people go to war and risk their lives.  Every generation offers up young men and young women that feel their country is worth dying for.  (Since my country has not actually been at direct risk for a good long time, I think that it might be easier to get younger people, patriotic people, those that want to have a cause worth dying for---even if they don't fully understand the cause, to take on that risk  or maybe they are like so many other risk takers.)

Our Police officers put themselves at risk to stop crime.
Our firefighters put themselves at risk to stop fires.
Our healthcare workers put themselves at risk to fight disease.
Our miners put themselves at risk to dig up coal and metals and gemstones and chemicals.
Prostitutes and drug dealers put themselves at risk to fight their own poverty.
Race car drivers put themselves at risk to fight boredom.

Is that the same?  Is that just "what are you willing to risk to make a living?"

People can be injured or killed in every job.  There is no absolutely safe method of making money.

Is that fighting?  Is that being will to fight for something?

Are all of them just fighting to stay alive?  Fighting for a better life?  Fighting to make the world a better place---at least for themselves?

What am I willing to fight for?

Am I too old to fight?  Am I to weak to fight?  Do I have to be willing to kill someone to fight?  Do I have to be willing to do something illegal to fight?  Do I have to risk my life to fight?

I risk my life everyday.  Every walk through a public place, every contact with a stranger, every moment of physical activity.

Life is tenuous.  A clot floats to heart or brain.  A tree falls.  Lightning strikes.  The wiring sparks.  The pressure cooker explodes.  The candle blows over.  The car breaks.  The burglar notices my house.  I need milk at the convenience store.  The government building I'm in, explodes.  The skycraper I'm touring gets hit by a plane.  There is a tornado, a hurricane, a flash flood, a forest fire, an outbreak of swine flu or spanish flu or ebola.

I can't fight any of that.

But I am willing to fight.  I can fight.  I will fight---for a better world, against injustices, for my children's and grandchildren's rights....

Isn't that really what all us fighters really fight for.

May your day be safe and your heart stay strong.