“Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the
earth befalls all the sons of the earth.
This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man
belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.”Attributed to Chief Seattle – 1854
(Actually written by Ted Perry for Home – an environmental move in 1972.)
Earth Day rolls around again. I know this is a few days early, but wanted to give you a head start in case you want to plan some activities.
There’s so much hype – both positive and negative – about the creation of another “remembrance day”. We have Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Flag Day, Labor Day . . . Why not an Earth Day?
My take is if we need another big media campaign to make the general populace pay attention to Mama Earth, let’s do it!
I was having a discussion the other day about nature based spirituality with a wise woman at our local video store. She had also been raised walking this path as well. We were discussing caring for the land and nature. She said someone had once told her “We treat Mother Earth like a prostitute. . . And don’t even pay her!” Sadly, oh so very true.
This made me think of a song from the CD Fire Prayer by Denean called Song To The Mother. Wendy Gray has made it into a youtube video. The song is powerful and the video just highlights it’s beauty and power. Check out the whole CD, it is beautiful and very powerful.
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So, let those media blitzes, blogs, tweets and posts roll! If the attention helps one person become aware, even for a moment, of caring for our planet, our home, our Earth Mother, and encourages even one small change or effort in just a few, the cumulative effect is BIG.
Another key here to changing how we treat Mother Earth is in the first line of the quote above. . . “Will you teach your children. . . ?” The focus on Earth Day is a great opportunity for teaching our young ones how to love and care for our Earth Mother so that they carry it forward. Some Native American philosophies tell us that our actions effect the next seven generations. So, let us teach our children to care for the Earth. They in turn will teach future generations as well as their parents and families. (How many parents have quit smoking because of what their children learned in school?)
Over the last couple of years I have included blogs with some ideas on activities for Earth Day (and EVERY day). You can check out these blogs here.
So I invite you to attend a local celebration, choose an activity from my blogs or other places on the web and go forth and celebrate Earth Day . . . as a walker of the shamanic or nature-based path, as an adult and as a child (let him/her out to play).
Until next time –
Mitakuye Oyasin (A Lakota prayer as a reminder that we are all related),
Debbie