We’ve got a plastic problem. The past few weeks, the footage I keep seeing on the news, makes me caustic. There are waves and waves of trash, rolling through the oceans and onto the lands.
Holy Heavens. When will we learn?
Oh, we knew it was coming. Years ago we started seeing images of birds with their heads stuck in 6-pack holders, and the like. Where did we think all those plastic water bottles and grocery bags were going to go? Maybe most people didn’t consider it. Not a second thought.
That’s the problem, really. Most people don’t give it a second thought. The road junkies who throw their trash out of car windows are the worst. Thoughtless, entitled, boorish thugs. But if we are honest about it, all of us are damaging the planet, one little bit at a time. Yet the big corps and countries are, well, much bigger. Ice-caps are melting. Endangered species are going extinct. Wholesome-breathing-planet is choking.
There was a time when we humans were not this way. We didn’t use cars, or any motorized vehicles. It was long before that. We dwelled. We hunted and gathered, and then we planted and reaped. Heck, we peed behind pine trees.
Then we found industry.
And now we are industrialized.
Then we found computer.
Now we are computerized.
When the whole thing blows up, we will go back to the primitive. Those of us left here. But we won’t be dwelling any more. Not so much. We’ll be hiding.
Hey. I’m sort of like Mr. Rogers today, with all my happy thoughts, aren’t I?
Yeah, well. There have got to be some big movements. Some wondrous changes. Elevations in our thinking and our actions. But that will not happen as long as money rules the world. And money rules the world.
Here is the thing though. Our little things. They may not seem like they make a difference, but they do. We can all make a difference. On any day. A little. We can quit buying bottled water. We can take our own grocery bags to the store. Recycle. I know I am not telling you anything new. I’m mostly saying it for my own peace of mind — my own interior-convincing, that we have to keep trying. Otherwise, I get despondent. We must be committed to helping here. We have to keep making an effort in making this world a better place.
Not only when it comes to plastics and trash, and waste.
But also when it comes to matters of the heart, and the soul.
We have to value this place, ourselves and one another.
Last night, again, I saw the news clip at a convenience store parking lot. The story concerning an argument over parking in a handicap space. The one guy shoves the other to the ground. And the guy on the ground, simply, reaches in to his pocket, produces a pistol, and shoots the other guy in the chest. He ends his life, right there at the 7-11 Store.
The guy’s wife was there. And his children. They watched him die.
When will we learn?
We have to quit pulling out guns and settling our scores.
We have to stop throwing our trash on the ground.
We need to put away our thoughts of entitlement.
We must begin to value all that we share here.
Including each other.
We really. Really. Must.
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It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. — Jiddu Krishnamurti
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If you truly believe in the value of life, you care about all of the weakest and most vulnerable members of society. — Joni Eareckson Tada
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“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
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