Dearest child,
There is a Native American belief which states that every action should be considered with an awareness of its impact on the next seven generations. This ideal has been lost in our current culture, however, I am choosing to contemplate your future life so that I can gain a compass reading on my own life. I hope to do well by you.
If you get this message, it means that you (and the human species) exists, and that is good. Whether or not you get this message, I hope that you are happy, safe and healthy. I hope that the culture you live in is much more balanced and healthy than the culture I have grown up in and still live in.
I live in difficult and confusing times, so much so that many people don’t realize them as such. Our culture is so deeply inbalanced that many children are abused, many women (and men) are raped, racism exists at subtle and overt levels, and we are raping the Earth at profound rates to feed our addictions to wasteful lifestyles. Large corporations seem to have more power than people, more power than elected officials, and again, the Earth is raped repeatedly for greed and our modern consumerist addictions to “stuff.” Especially in the United States, many people have bought the lie that we are consumers more than citizens, and because of this, passivity and apathy are the general state of things. Even amongst people with the will to care, everything seems so hopeless that it’s not worth the energy or heartache to do anything about the things that are wrong. This mood of helplessness is fostered by those in power to keep us passive. Also, divisiveness is fostered by people in power to retain their power. Racism is one example. When poor white people resent poor black people, we are not rising together to address our common oppressions.
If you study world history, you can learn that whoever controls the information controls everything. That is true in my time as well. Corporate interests own most media outlets, and therefore few Americans have access to what’s really going on. There are independent media sources, but they are struggling a great deal financially. I think this is part of how the whole system works… artists with real visions and independent journalists both are marginalized in our system, because they cannot make a living without “selling out.” Our consumerist culture has essentially made spiritual slaves of many people, because it is nearly impossible to exist outside of the system. This was not always true, because the means of basic living used to be in the hands of all people. Now, even the basics need to be purchased, and to get back to a more natural, sustainable way of living takes some (often financial) resources.
Movements are happening, however, to do just this. Transition Towns is one example. It is a re-localization movement in response to the twin problems of peak oil and climate change. Surely, seven generations from now, you have heard of peak oil, and think of it in the far past-tense. However, many people today haven’t heard of it at all, although we have likely passed it. Right now, we are facing an awareness crisis. Many people don’t realize the extent of the real problems facing us, many others don’t realize the causes of the problems, and many others don’t see any way to change. There are lots of examples of change in history, change is possible, but I feel like many people just don’t see it.
I hope your existence means that I, and/or others like me, succeeded. I hope that you can look back on my lifetime and see that this was the time we turned everything around, we stopped the speeding freight train and ensured humanity’s survival. The ego part of me hopes that I had a big role in changing humanity’s trajectory, but I realize this is a shallow dream. What’s really important is that I did what I could, and that somehow, all together, we achieved the necessary and yet seemingly impossible challenges before us.
Right now, there is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is gushing crude oil and methane. The gas company BP is adding toxic dispersants in the millions of gallons in an effort to decrease the visibility of the spill (in order to make themselves look less bad). The total effect of all of this is not known, and yet we do know that a lot of death will result, of wildlife, ecosystems, and people. 11 people died in the explosion that caused the “leak,” and as of today, 2 clean-up workers have died, although no link has been proven yet. Because of exposure to toxic oil, methane and dispersants, more people could die, especially because in many cases BP is not providing proper safety gear for clean-up workers. The travesties go on and on, but I will stop listing them now.
I hope that if you have heard of this spill at all, you heard of it in the context of this is the time that people woke up and changed things. It is hard not to feel helpless when a huge corporation like BP is calling the shots and making horrible decisions. It’s easy to feel like the world is ending when we see the early effects of this disaster and still people in the government still want to perform more offshore drilling. But, I believe, more than ever, that we can make changes if enough people rise up together. I hope that is the story I will get to tell my daughter, grandaughter, and maybe the story will trickle down to you. I hope that this is the time that not only did we step up to corporate abuse of power, but also reclaimed our power as citizens. I hope that we, at this time, end our addiction to fossil fuels and stop raping the Earth for her last bits of fuel. I hope this is the story that you eventually learn of my times.
Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandchild of mine, I wish you the best, which is why I am taking this all so seriously. It’s not just our relationship to fossil fuels that is our problem, its our entire relationship to power, and relationship to ourselves. We have not yet learned how interconnected we all are. Our society’s roots are in domination and separation and conquer, and these ideologies persist still. If the world and human race is to survive to you, I think we will need to learn that we are all One.
I hope you have had a better life already than mine has been so far. My parents were both abusive, and I had a difficult start. While I do hold them responsible, I also think they are products of a highly toxic culture, and I hope that the toxicity has been washed away long before your birth. I hope that humanity has a spiritual awakening soon, in my lifetime. I have spent much of my adult life healing, which I feel has given me perspectives on the great healing that needs to happen in the world. Just in the last few years (with the birth of my daughter Joy) have my healing efforts turned from inward to outward. Because we are all connected, I had to heal myself first. Because we are all connected, my healing does not end at myself. I am part of the larger world, and so I feel I must be part of the healing. It starts with reducing my own oil dependency and becoming more reliant on local networks for food and other needs. It also includes speaking out about the problems I see and singing out about the hope I feel.
By the time of your birth, I hope that humankind has long been peaceful and the Earth’s ecosystems have been restored. I hope that your life is free, peaceful, in balance with nature and all life, and full of love. So may it be, because after all, I am doing this for you!
Love,
Your great-great-great-great-great grandma!
p.s. I have included a picture of my sleeping daughter, Joy, your great-great-great-great grandmother. She is 2 years old at the time of this writing. I look at this picture, and I can imagine it’s of you. Children are born into this world with whole and shiny spirits. Joy gives me hope for living. She was born into difficult times, but has not been touched by them. She is still so connected with her spirit, that she is really an angel. All children are this way. As humans, it is not our nature to be destructive, that is a result of conditioning. It is our nature to be pure loving spirits. Even as adults, when we have lost our sense of connection to the divine, we are still pure and loving spirits, we just are disconnected from our source. May we all find our way back again! Love-Love!
