ELATION

My daughter is a millenium with a full-time job....and little time to look for news...because listening to local newsrails only gives local, superficial, and often-times scandalous briefs of the world around us.

So it is...Momma steps in to share a brief description of our surrounding world...grateful that she care enough to want to know...

Over the 4 billion years of life on earth, we have had 5 mass extinctions.

It has been 65 million years since the last catastrophe. It wiped the dinosaurs and 75% of all species from the face of the world.

Yet, life always has a way of reviving. The last 10,000 years, have had steady equilibrium between nature and man with a reliable climate keeping clockwork seasonal changes.

However, in the last 40 years we have elevated the earth’s climate 4 degrees centrigrade, venturing towards a 6th mass extinction.

It is not the planet that is in danger, but humankind. Life will survive. But man may not.

In just 40 years we have destroyed half the world´s forests, cutting down 15 billion trees, a year; 40% of Summer sea ice has melted with climate change; we have overfished 30% of our fish stock; half the fertile land is now farmland… wildlife has been cut down to half its previous amount; only 4% corresponds to animal biodiversity: 70% of the birds, are domestic chickens; mankind’s overpopulation accounts for 1/3 of all mammals.

In one lifetime, human beings have overrun the world, accelerating global decline.

At this rate, by 2030, the amazon rainforest will be a savannah, gravely altering global water cycle; the Artic will be ice free in the Summer, speeding global warming; frozen soil’s release of methane will elevate the  climate, making oceans hotter by 2050. Their acidity will kill coral reefs and account for food shortage; insects will disappear, affecting pollination and soil production. Part of the world will be uninhabitable. This is how things stand, today.

But NEWS of this week’s Climate Summit, with the United States’ return to the multilateral climate governance process, that includes 40 world leaders, galvanizes hope. Their joint willingness to tackle the climate crisis and aim to reduce world climate 1.5-degrees C., is the milestone set for joint commitment at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow.

I loved Chinese President Xi Jinping’s opening speech that set the tone of the meeting:

— We must be committed to harmony between man and Nature. “All things that grow live in harmony and benefit from the nourishment of Nature.” We must treat Nature with respect and protect it, and follow its laws, lest our failure invite its revenge.

— We must be committed to green development. To protect the environment is to protect productivity, and to improve the environment is to boost productivity — the truth is as simple as that.

— We must be committed to systemic governance, protecting the ecosystem. Mountains, rivers, forests as well as farmlands, lakes, grasslands and deserts all make indivisible parts of the ecosystem and require proper balance of all elements and aspects of Nature.

— We must commit to a people-centered approach. The environment concerns the well-being of people in all countries. We need to take into full account people’s longing for a better life and a good environment as well as our responsibility for future generations.

— We must be committed to multilateralism. We need to work on the basis of international law, follow the principle of equity and justice, and focus on effective actions.

— We must be committed to a common goal but with differentiated responsibilities.

“When people pull together, nothing is too heavy to be lifted.” Climate change poses pressing, formidable and long-term challenges to us all. Yet I am confident that as long as we unite in our purposes and efforts and work together with solidarity and mutual assistance, we will rise above the global climate and environment challenges and leave a clean and beautiful world to future generations.

While in search for hope in a world of lies ‘of sham, treachery and deceitfulness’ ..I turn to poetry. 

Poetry gives words to the language of the soul.. it understands how I feel and tells me exactly what to do about it. Poetry elevates my spirit beyond what is described as the ‘fell clutch of circumstance’, the grasp of negativity and destruction…in my case, grasp of the hopelessness that has hardened my heart to the point of making me cynical even about love.

It is in poetry that I find answers..

In a ‘Psalm for Life’ written by the 19th century American poet, William Wordsworth Longfellow…. my perception actually shifts.. He starts outright setting things straight. 

‘Life is not an empty dream’, ‘things are not what they seem’, ‘the grave is not the goal; nor are, enjoyment or sorrow the destined end of life’..

He clearly tells me what would be expected of me: ‘Act’ he says…’so that each tomorrow finds us farther than today’.

In one line, he brushes away my depression, deep-seated in the past; and my anguish, set in the frightening future…

About the past he says ‘bury life’s dead in the past’ and about what is to come, he says ‘ trust no future;’

Just…act today…act in the living present. That is where we allign our inner heart with God above, however we might perceive him to be.

Wordsworth describes life as ‘ the world’s broad field of battle’ where we should strive to ‘be heroes in the strife’.

And he edges me on…’Take heart ‘he says.. we are each responsible of making our lives sublime.

He urges me to face my destiny, saying,

 ‘Let us then, be up and doin, with heart for our fate; still achieving, still pursuing’…

 and ends by telling me never to give up, - ‘learn to labor and learn to wait’.

Another poet, British Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Rudyard Kipling, spells out exactly how to react when, in controversy.

 In his memorable poem ‘If’ he tells us:

‘Keep your head though others lose theirs…

Trust yourself but make allowance for doubt;

Don’t deal in lies;

Don’t give way to hate;

Don’t strive to look good or talk wise and never lose your common touch.

Dream, but don’t make dreams your master.

Think, but don’t make thoughts your aim.

Bear the pain of being lied about…and

When broken down.. stoop and try again and silently, restart at your beginning.

Serve your turn, filling every 60 seconds with a full distance run..

And always “hold on”.. even when you feel there is nothing left in you, to go on’.

In the noisy confusion of this world, Max Ehrmann’s DESIDERATA urges me to:

‘find and keep my peace, striving to be happy, by being cheerful’. 

‘Despite our broken dreams life is still beautiful…’ he guarantees.

And he clearly tells us how:

‘Go placidly amid the noise and the haste’;

‘Be silent’;

‘Be on good terms with everyone;

Speak your truth quietly and clearly…

But listen to others and be cautious..

Avoid loud and aggressive people and don’t compare yourself or pretend false affection.

Enjoy your achievements and keep interest in your daily chores;

Taking counsel from the years lived, and surrendering youth’s distress and dark imaginings.’

And he ends be reminding us

We are all, ‘children of the universe and we have a right to be here…

So, it is I share the wisdom wrought from my favorite poets, begging their forgiveness for paraphrasing their poetry,

 and hoping it gives you all, the solace I find in poetry, and the heart to make peace with yourselves, with others, and with God.

The GOLDEN RECORD

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6pcuzwZSIw7OgL149bgJmZ?si=ZERqTUjiR2eqnaQMrgwMEQ&utm_source=copy-link

While the global peace index reports a 2% deterioration in the global level of peace in the past decade with historically high numbers of people killed in terrorist incidents overgrowing inequality, military dominance, and  widespread terrorism, Leydy Pech, an indigenous Mayan beekeeper, wins de 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize for successfully halting Monsanto’s project to plant genetically modified soybeans in southern Mexico.

So while Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen are reported to be the least peaceful countries in its rankings for 2020, a proud Mayan woman of 55, Lady Pech makes her living keeping rare native bees alive, in rural Mayan communities from Hopelchén, in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

Her practice goes back centuries in deep-seated Mayan culture, being the livelihood 25,000 families from indigenous Mayan communities in Campeche. That’s why Mexico is the world’s sixth largest producer of honey.

So, while Iran , the United States and Israel fight over nuclear agreements; Sudan and Ethiopia are having lethal ethnic clashes at the Tigray border; religious schism stirs war between Saudi Sunni Arabs, against the Yemen Houthis, backed militarily by Iranian Shiites; and while Myanmar heads towards a civil war of unprecedented scale, back in Mexico’s tropical forest, indigenous communities strive to save the bees. Through organic farming and agroforestry upheld solely by Mayan women, Leydy Pech defends beekeeping as an integral part of Mayan culture, key for the protection of Campeche’s forests.

No wonder she has been honored with the Goldman Environmental Prize, gaining international recognition and worldwide visibility, for stopping Monsanto (previously Bayer) from using herbicides with glyphosate, a carcinogen linked to miscarriages and birth defects on their soybean production.

So it is, I find in today’s lesson, the wisdom of local traditions and the importance of keeping life simple.

When in search for meaning, everyday we can find hope, if we focus on germinating signs of beauty, kindness and hope.  Such was the news of a concert recently held, in honor of all those who lost their lives during the brutal extremist rule of ISIS in the city of Mosul, Iraq, from 2014-2017.

Musicians from all religions, both beginners and professional musicians from Niniveh’s Watar Youth Orchestra, celebrated Mosul's history, its revival and its cultural reawakening, giving a message for the world to hear: -- MUSIC..NOT BOMBS--.

Heiligenstadt Testament was a letter, found among Ludwig Van Beethoven's private documents, written for his brothers Carl and Johann in 1802, but never sent. In it, Ludwig describes the deep physical and emotional misery he felt with his growing deafness. Rejected by society, he felt misunderstood and wronged..to the point of contemplating suicide. 

Only Art and Virtue held him back, committed first, to fulfilling what he felt was his personal destiny on earth...composing.

In our present times of hopelessness, when suicidal thoughts abound, Ludwig Van Beethoven's testimony of strength, born from his deep misery  is an example that shows a way out: focusing on Art and Virtue, the good in man, though yet, unseen.