Change now, fer cryin in the bucket.
February GreenWay article
to hazelwoodeditor@yahoo.com
for hazelwoodhomepage.com
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Celebrating Our Place
In the Living Theatre performance Paradise Now, actors engage by actually going out and touching audience members, saying "Holy hand," "Holy forehead," "Holy wristwatch," or whatever - to evoke the sacred that is everywhere. We humans have become so disassociated from life that we rarely feel the beauty that's all around us. We have psychological blinders on - fears and automatic negative thoughts that obscure the positive. Think of all the times someone has made you unhappy by sharing their negative way of looking at things. I remember I absolutely loved Marilyn Monroe, Barbara Streisand, and Bette Midler - until somebody said something ugly about them.
How many ugly things have been said about Hazelwood. How many times has its reputation as a poor or unsafe neighborhood been a self-fulfilling prophecy? We so often see what we expect and act on it.
Back when our economy was more than treading water, people would take vacations and move out to the suburbs - as if those places were better than here. Now - as vacations become unaffordable, human-caused environmental degradation becomes Earthwide, and there are fewer pleasant and affordable suburbs to go to - the desire to leave has become a desire to come back to the cities. We humans are getting new eyes, re-beautifying our cities and finally recognizing the wonderful things that never left them. Even the animals and plants are coming back.
Yes, the mill shutting down was a tragedy from which we're still recovering. Yes, it was great to have everybody able to work working and getting paid. But, since none of us was alive before industrialization, let's do some historical research.
The American Indians were not savages, they were as a whole deeply spiritual people, cooperating in humble recognition that they didn't own the Earth. We each are a part of Nature or Earth Mother or the Great Spirit or God or Allah or whatever you want to call the Creator. And our countries and farms and gardens are no more able to be secured than it's possible ultimately to stop birds and bugs and bacteria and "bad" people from crossing borders in or out. So our North American ancestors were actually wiser than us, having no concept of ownership. When people share they don't have to waste a majority of their resources on security.
If we allow ourselves to fall for the myth that the planet is going to hell in a handbasket, that's what's going to happen. We can do our part to make Heaven a place on Earth by starting with Hazelwood. We can't individually feed all the people in the world, but we can help those in our sphere of influence, one loving act at a time.
"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."
~ Mother Teresa.
Stay tuned for the first step in the establishment of a community grocery in Hazelwood. We're going to organize a food buying club to save money buying in bulk.
And gear up for what promises to be one hell of a growing season. In response to terrible problems developing in the world, urban farming (including farm animals) is being encouraged by changes in city policy, with health department supervision. No noisy roosters will be allowed, but expect more poultry and other farm animals will be your neighbors - even if you don't choose to have any yourself. As a food security measure, these agricultural zoning changes are being put into place to encourage all of us to grow more of our own food. Huge weather and other environmental difficulties are developing on Earth which are making it harder and harder to feed the world's people.
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to hazelwoodeditor@yahoo.com
for hazelwoodhomepage.com
======
Celebrating Our Place
In the Living Theatre performance Paradise Now, actors engage by actually going out and touching audience members, saying "Holy hand," "Holy forehead," "Holy wristwatch," or whatever - to evoke the sacred that is everywhere. We humans have become so disassociated from life that we rarely feel the beauty that's all around us. We have psychological blinders on - fears and automatic negative thoughts that obscure the positive. Think of all the times someone has made you unhappy by sharing their negative way of looking at things. I remember I absolutely loved Marilyn Monroe, Barbara Streisand, and Bette Midler - until somebody said something ugly about them.
How many ugly things have been said about Hazelwood. How many times has its reputation as a poor or unsafe neighborhood been a self-fulfilling prophecy? We so often see what we expect and act on it.
Back when our economy was more than treading water, people would take vacations and move out to the suburbs - as if those places were better than here. Now - as vacations become unaffordable, human-caused environmental degradation becomes Earthwide, and there are fewer pleasant and affordable suburbs to go to - the desire to leave has become a desire to come back to the cities. We humans are getting new eyes, re-beautifying our cities and finally recognizing the wonderful things that never left them. Even the animals and plants are coming back.
Yes, the mill shutting down was a tragedy from which we're still recovering. Yes, it was great to have everybody able to work working and getting paid. But, since none of us was alive before industrialization, let's do some historical research.
The American Indians were not savages, they were as a whole deeply spiritual people, cooperating in humble recognition that they didn't own the Earth. We each are a part of Nature or Earth Mother or the Great Spirit or God or Allah or whatever you want to call the Creator. And our countries and farms and gardens are no more able to be secured than it's possible ultimately to stop birds and bugs and bacteria and "bad" people from crossing borders in or out. So our North American ancestors were actually wiser than us, having no concept of ownership. When people share they don't have to waste a majority of their resources on security.
If we allow ourselves to fall for the myth that the planet is going to hell in a handbasket, that's what's going to happen. We can do our part to make Heaven a place on Earth by starting with Hazelwood. We can't individually feed all the people in the world, but we can help those in our sphere of influence, one loving act at a time.
"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one."
~ Mother Teresa.
Stay tuned for the first step in the establishment of a community grocery in Hazelwood. We're going to organize a food buying club to save money buying in bulk.
And gear up for what promises to be one hell of a growing season. In response to terrible problems developing in the world, urban farming (including farm animals) is being encouraged by changes in city policy, with health department supervision. No noisy roosters will be allowed, but expect more poultry and other farm animals will be your neighbors - even if you don't choose to have any yourself. As a food security measure, these agricultural zoning changes are being put into place to encourage all of us to grow more of our own food. Huge weather and other environmental difficulties are developing on Earth which are making it harder and harder to feed the world's people.
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posted by St. Jim the Composter at 10:28 AM
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