Compassion will save us
I sit between a sacred land and a big cargo ship, docked, puffing out black soot.
I know, whenever I feel something really strong and magical moving across the landscape, that it is a sacred site. For years now I have known this. For years now I have being shocked, with the gut wrenching realisation that where ever there is sacred land, there is mining, logging, farming or some other form of extraction and ecological degradation. The more I traverse these sacred lands, the more I come to see, that in fact, the most fertile of lands, are some of the most sacred, and most feminine of our lands… and you know what they do to those lands… dairy cattle. Often near beautiful bodies of water… now rotten with cow dung and possibly even dead cows or calves.
It is a harsh reality that if we buy diary, even if we claim (I say we, as I have chosen in the past to eat cheese), if we claim to be vegetarians that eat cheese or drink milk, we are still putting our money towards the killing of calves (in most cases). A cow only produces milk when she has a baby…
To go even deeper down this track, is to say… lets look at what we consume. The farmers depend on the consumers… so if you choose to buy organic veggies and grains… they will find a way to grow them. Farmers are intelligent and innovative, because they know how to survive on the land.
I grew up on a really big wheat growing farm. For the past 6 years, I have felt the land… and had the knowledge of how detrimental farming practices are to the land. If we keep farming how we do… it will only be a few generations until our children’s, children begin to experience real food scarcity… and that is without taking into consideration climate change!
When I go home… back to the family farm, I know that it is not to fight… it is to inspire life. I also know, it is not the farmers fault… but it is the responsibility of every single one of us!
When it comes to mining, clearing and logging… well, this should be a criminal offence… because their intentions of finical profit is literally taking from future generations and is killing the land.
Ultimately… I am not out to fight anything… my only interest is in caring for the land and each other… in bringing unity and compassion. Compassion is not isolated to human beings… compassion is to care for all of life. It is innate in us, to continue life, to be compassionate and to raise children, that can be good and caring humans in the world. Compassion is empathy in action… it takes courage, but it is in all of us. We are all capable of showing this Earth, all her creatures and each other compassion.
