Greetings WIN community,
We must feel our floating on the whole world river,
all people breathing the same thin skin of air,
of people growing our food in the same worn dirt,
all drinking water from the same vast cup of clay.
We must be headed at last to our soft bodies and our hard planet,
to make fruitful conscious history in common.
– Marge Piercy, From Stone, Paper, Knife – The Pool that Swims in Us
I give thanks for having choices. A woman from India spoke at a conference about domestic violence and she explained that in her tradition, people do not have choices. I challenged her thinking. She replied with a tone of sarcasm, “Oh, you Americans! You think you have choices because you can choose between Pepsi and Coke.”
I hope she is wrong. I believe that Eve and Adam had a choice when they chose to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. And I believe that they suffered the consequences, although the benefit was that they were given the freedom to choose. Today, we suffer the choices that cause pollution, oppression and war. But we also reap the benefits of the choices that cause conservation, justice and peace.
In the United States we are blessed to have the First Amendment to the Constitution that protects our rights to worship as we believe, to speak what we believe and to come together for what we believe. For this, I am thankful. I pray that we not waste those rights.
While the forces of greed, hate and violence at times feel overwhelming, we have choices either to cooperate, explicitly or implicitly, or to resist evil and to seek justice. For those choices I am thankful.
From now until the end of the year, join me in making these choices:
Spend only for what feeds oneself and others, physically and/or spiritually.
Give generously. May I suggest to the Wyoming Interfaith Network?
Speak out and act for what is right.
Recycle, reuse and restore.
Turn down the heat and put on warmer clothing.
Insulate your home as best you can.
Drive less; walk more.
Act in the best interests of the poor, the oppressed and the children.
Be thankful for the ability to choose.
Be mindful of choices made and the consequences.
Fear not. Be bold. Build bridges. Do justice.
Blessings,
Chesie Lee