The news item was this: that
natural gas may be in the rock that underlies the Connecticut River
valley, the part of the earth where I live.
My immediate, bodily response was to want to lay – nay, to throw myself –
on the ground, on the earth. Fierce
protection, the way a parent would cover a child with their own body if he or
she was at risk of harm.
Almost since I first heard of it, it has felt to me that
hydrofracking is a violation of the earth and the land, by its nature, and with the unknown
consequences for those who live on the land for thousands of years. But over time I had questioned myself: maybe
this is the best humanity can do now, and people are strained from energy
costs, and people need jobs… so maybe in the states where it is legal there is
reasonable justification…
Then I heard this news item.
And my body knew. Whatever ways
the mind may question what is right and what is not, the body and the
heart know.
This morning’s news report even said that there are no plans
for ‘hydrofracking’ in this area. But my response is my body’s response to
what it would mean for any part of the earth.
The thought of it happening here was
like a laser beam that cut through the haze of questioning, policy analysis,
rationalizing, justification, or feelings of helplessness. The body and heart know things the mind
cannot fully grasp, but must bow to.
This I know.
A violation of the Earth, is a violation of my own
body. My body cries with the pain of the
Earth.
~
I grieve, as well, with
the Native peoples of this land, who have for so long endured the plunder of
the Earth, and the disregard of those who came here, for the life that
pre-existed here on this Continent.
May we learn from the way of life of those who know how to
live in right relationship with the Earth.
May we come as a nation and as a world to see and know the harm of our
ways, and commit to learn. and to live, in
harmony with the life of all the Earth.
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