MoniDew
12-23-2008, 06:21 PM
I am at the beginning of all these revolutionary new ideas. Big huge, oh-my-god, rock my world ideas. Little, small, oh-that-makes-sense ideas. This much change in so little time can be rather disorienting.
I know that all of you got to this philosophical place long before I did. You've been here for a long time. But this is still new to me.
The realization that, 100 years ago, everyone provided for themselves. Everyone grew their own food, made their own clothes, etc. Whatever they couldn't make, they did without. We were a nation of producers, in an agrarian age, sustaining ourselves by the sweat of our own brow. But somewhere in the post-agrarian, post- industrial age we got sold on the philosophy of consumerism. We became a nation of consumers rather than producers. We bought what we needed and worked for someone other than ourselves. And we lost our self-reliance.
Mathematically, is impossible to sustain an economy in which all of us take and no one gives. And that's what we're looking at now. Now that all of what has been the supply side of this nation is beginning to crumble, what are we left with? Nothing? Not if we want to continue to survive! And it will get terrifying for those who cannot find a way through what is about to happen next. The animal excrement is about to hit the ocsillating turbine.
What are we left with? We are left with OURSELVES! We must again produce, for ourselves, and hopefully a little bit more. WE must find a way to sustain ourselves longterm, indefinately. Mathematically, economically, it's the only thing that makes sense.
And it's more than just a matter of economics, although that should be reason enough. There is also a matter of caring for the planet we all share. So many have had their heads in the sand for so long on the subject of what this ecosystem can or cannot withstand. But that, too, is becoming more obvious as we watch our polar glaciers disappear into the seas, and our water levels rise on shorelines around the world. All that water now being drawn into the rain cycle, disrupting the planet's weather patterns. Bigger storms, worse storms, so much damage in so many places from irratic weather. Can we remain deliberately obtuse much longer?
The rape of the earth by monoculture farming methods will have to be repaired, one backyard at a time, by those willing to tend her gently. The balance of nature must be restored. And only those who intentionally set out to understand what that means and cooperate with it will survive. (and that's being hopeful. as a whole, the planet may be too far gone to retrieve.) She has been our mother. And now our mother needs our care.
I am beginning to see the light. I am beginning to understand those who refuse to put one more burden upon this earth. I am beginning to understand those who refuse to consume any more. I am beginning to understand those who insist on producing everything they eat, everything they wear, and build the home they live in with their own two hands. I am beginning to cry out from the depths of my being for that simple, humble existance that is infinately more significant and meaningful than all the Wall Street Wonders' golden parachutes in the world.
And, damn it, I want to do something about it! I want to start today. I want to repair my ways like a born-again believer. I am determined to change, to make a difference, to lead by example, to challenge myself, and to rise to the occassion. I want to be a part of the solution instead of part of the problem. And I want to live to see the day when the rest of this world finally comes to its senses and realizes what I now do, and what all of you do.
Come what may, and it will come, we must forge our way through, blaze the trail, and lead as many as will follow. I'm so glad I have all of you with me on this path.
I know that all of you got to this philosophical place long before I did. You've been here for a long time. But this is still new to me.
The realization that, 100 years ago, everyone provided for themselves. Everyone grew their own food, made their own clothes, etc. Whatever they couldn't make, they did without. We were a nation of producers, in an agrarian age, sustaining ourselves by the sweat of our own brow. But somewhere in the post-agrarian, post- industrial age we got sold on the philosophy of consumerism. We became a nation of consumers rather than producers. We bought what we needed and worked for someone other than ourselves. And we lost our self-reliance.
Mathematically, is impossible to sustain an economy in which all of us take and no one gives. And that's what we're looking at now. Now that all of what has been the supply side of this nation is beginning to crumble, what are we left with? Nothing? Not if we want to continue to survive! And it will get terrifying for those who cannot find a way through what is about to happen next. The animal excrement is about to hit the ocsillating turbine.
What are we left with? We are left with OURSELVES! We must again produce, for ourselves, and hopefully a little bit more. WE must find a way to sustain ourselves longterm, indefinately. Mathematically, economically, it's the only thing that makes sense.
And it's more than just a matter of economics, although that should be reason enough. There is also a matter of caring for the planet we all share. So many have had their heads in the sand for so long on the subject of what this ecosystem can or cannot withstand. But that, too, is becoming more obvious as we watch our polar glaciers disappear into the seas, and our water levels rise on shorelines around the world. All that water now being drawn into the rain cycle, disrupting the planet's weather patterns. Bigger storms, worse storms, so much damage in so many places from irratic weather. Can we remain deliberately obtuse much longer?
The rape of the earth by monoculture farming methods will have to be repaired, one backyard at a time, by those willing to tend her gently. The balance of nature must be restored. And only those who intentionally set out to understand what that means and cooperate with it will survive. (and that's being hopeful. as a whole, the planet may be too far gone to retrieve.) She has been our mother. And now our mother needs our care.
I am beginning to see the light. I am beginning to understand those who refuse to put one more burden upon this earth. I am beginning to understand those who refuse to consume any more. I am beginning to understand those who insist on producing everything they eat, everything they wear, and build the home they live in with their own two hands. I am beginning to cry out from the depths of my being for that simple, humble existance that is infinately more significant and meaningful than all the Wall Street Wonders' golden parachutes in the world.
And, damn it, I want to do something about it! I want to start today. I want to repair my ways like a born-again believer. I am determined to change, to make a difference, to lead by example, to challenge myself, and to rise to the occassion. I want to be a part of the solution instead of part of the problem. And I want to live to see the day when the rest of this world finally comes to its senses and realizes what I now do, and what all of you do.
Come what may, and it will come, we must forge our way through, blaze the trail, and lead as many as will follow. I'm so glad I have all of you with me on this path.