My home state of Texas is experiencing record drought and wildfires this summer, some having come within ten miles of my home. Our neighbors in eastern and northeastern United States have gotten the tropical storms that typically ravage our state, causing much flooding after an unseasonably wet spring and summer. These patterns fit the extreme, unusual weather patterns around the world recently. For those of us fortunate enough to have escaped any destruction from these events, it can easy to watch the news with some sorrow and empathy but then feel this is somehow “SEP” – Someone Else’s Problem as coined in the bestseller Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Modern lifestyles allow us to forget our human/planetary interconnection! We operate some days as apparent self-sufficient islands with just a bit of social interaction sprinkled in for good measure. This sense of independence is a mirage.
We could not make it one day without Mother Earth providing the raw goods that hundreds of people then work to reap or raise, gather, ship, process, package, ship, stock, sell, and package again for us to take and enjoy. This is applicable to everything: electronic devices, structures we live in, water from the faucet, electricity and gas for every comfort and necessity, transportation, etc. All rely on at least one component from Mother Earth and then some degree of labor by hundreds or thousands of people along the way. We need this planet and one another every day!
If you have been fortunate enough to escape tragedy this week, month, or year, take a moment to give Thanks! Then, take another moment to consider what you can give back to a system that gives you so much every day: a prayer for Divine Help and Guidance, your time as a volunteer to help, money to a cause that touches your heart, or food and other goods to help those battling crises or surviving them. We must all do our part to love one another through the challenges and pain of this life. That is our true purpose in this world.
Sheryl Sitts, Founder & CIO (Chief Inspirational Officer)
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