New Beginnings

Of poets, scientists, and stars.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Enough

May you have enough. 

It is a good blessing.  A good wish for all of us.  I wish for my children that they always have enough and that they realize it and appreciate it.  I do not wish for them to have too much.  I wish the same for me.

When the first immigrants came to America, perhaps they were welcomed by Native Americans, perhaps not.  Probably some of each.  The immigrants (the land was already inhabited and settled so no need to call them settlers or discoverers) who came here to this vast, rugged country to find religious freedom, believed that the Native Americans were less than they and that there religion was definitely less than theirs.  So they set about killing them and taking the land.

Note there was a lot of land.  America, though inhabited by Native Americans with complex cultures, was not overcrowded.  There was enough for everyone.  But that's just not the way we do it, is it?  We, as a species are not big on sharing outside of our immediate families.

When later immigrants came - the Irish micks and the Italian wops, the Chinese slanteyes - you know, the people who did all the hard labor, the people who were already here didn't welcome them.  Those who were already here didn't want to share.  Oh, there was still a lot of wide open spaces, still enough for everyone, but no one wanted to share.  And the latest immigrants wanted to be here badly enough that they often did the hard labor to build the country up.  They were treated poorly.  The people who were already here had forgotten that they were immigrants too. And it still goes on.  I needn't go into it.  The Mexican wetbacks are abused for their labor and not welcomed for it. 

But the people who were treated the worst are the Native American, injuns, red skinned devils.  Without going into the painful humiliations these people endured and endure, the killing of them by White immigrants was one of the most complete genocides ever.

And every wave of immigrants, every wave of "progress" has brought with it a raping of the Earth.  First the forest in the East go.  They were cut down and lumber sent back to England who had gone through her own trees.  They were cut down to make space in a land more spacious than could be imagined.  The Earth was ripped open for her coal which was overused causing Her air to become toxic.  She was ripped open for Her gold and Her iron and raped for Her oil, all of which provided too much for a bunch of greedy people.  Her animals were slaughtered to the point of extinction.  All of this causing insane imbalance.  But nobody noticed.  We wanted more than enough.

Well, I have had ENOUGH.  I do not want more.  I want balance.  I want peace and respect for all of Earth, including her people. 

We are a greedy lot.  Having too much has made us greedy, not having too little. 

There is something about having too much that makes us greedy.  It's not having too little.