As I have probably mentioned before, I wasn't a hippie "back in the day". I was a little bit too young (12 in 1968). I was a little bit too serious and academic. I wasn't in a family or academic setting that might have promoted it (having gone to a private girls' school and had to wear a uniform). I focused on English church music and getting good grades, basically. No pot, no drugs, no Woodstock, no anti-war marches, nothing.
So I never carried a sign declaring, "Love Your Mother," or had that bumper sticker on my car. Until I wrote the post the other day, I'm not sure the phrase ever broke through my consciousness. But after I finished writing, it hit me. That is the crux of our environmental impasse. For thousands of years, few of our major religious, economic or social constructs have been based on reverence for women or the earth. And now we are paying the price, as it were.
I honor the fact that internationally, there are efforts being made to address climate chaos. I hope that there is at least some success in mitigating the thoughtless damage we have done, and helping people to adapt to the coming extremes of weather and temperature. But until most of the world's most powerful people can stand up publicly and say, "Mother Nature's needs are at the top of my list of priorities," it's hard to see how these steps will work. And we seemingly powerless people aren't off the hook. At this moment in history, we also need to put Her needs ahead of our own convenience or comfort, and stand up and say, "I Love My Mother. I Love Mother Earth." I'm going to try to say it daily, the minute I wake up and pull aside the curtain and see light on the horizon. It will be interesting to see if it helps me to make new kinds of life decisions, small and large.
