We could tell you a story about earth; our earth, this earth where life fades and species go extinct as our aspirations to rule, both the cosmos and the untamed passions of our hearts, grow. We could. From this empire of polymers, glass and metal we have lighted to keep the eternal night at bay (because, as the great Thelonious Monk once said, “It is always night, or we wouldn’t need light”).
Or we could tell you a story of how we came to envision the future, feeling nothing but hope shining on the sands of time, ever brighter, like never before really, promising the most radiant of futures – if only we trusted our ability to achieve those great things we have once dreamt and then attained.
Instead, because earth day has just come and gone, we want you to see. To feel. To understand the great unknown silences that the wind carries within.
Notice the trees’ canopies dance amidst the spring breeze. Watch the rain – when it falls – painting the hills with life, grounding the birds before taking flight again, humming beats unlike any other you’ve heard before. Take a stroll through the beach at dusk – if, like us, the beach is only a ten minute drive away – trying to spot the lighthouse lights: like a miniature quasar, telling which way home must be.
We have made this earth a cornucopia of straight lines, glass edges and geometric figures darting towards the clouds – even breaking them, sometimes. We have done much harm! We all know this, and loathe admitting it. But it’s the first necessary step to reach out and heal the earth. How liberating it feels to know that we can finally begin to do some real good!
We could tell you a story, many stories, those about our green deeds and our misgivings; about turning fruits into fabrics, about recycling glass plastic bottle to turn them into linings, stories of inspiring journeys and epic (truly epic) efforts to save the planet, one way or another. But let’s instead, today, honor earth the best we can. Let’s love it for the way it is and work to keep it beautiful, vast, perfect – just the way it is, forever, until our son’s sons and daughter’s daughters can, one day, return, wary, from other distant stars, and see that they’re right where they should be. Earth – our Home.
Because earth is where our hearth is.