A Lovely Palm Tree Is Being Killed!

Right now the local utility company is chainsawing a lovely palm tree down at the edge of the canyon view lot I live on.

They’re killing it because it’s beginning to interfere with the utility pole. That pole holds my internet connection so it’s important to me.

So why do I feel a real sadness? The sound of the saw hurts me!

The tree is down and now they are cutting it up to get rid of it somehow.

I hate this.

I hate that the first thing they (we) think of is the tree has to go!

I know it would cost more to move the pole, but that would be my choice and I truly believe it is the right choice.

I don’t know when the palm was planted. I don’t know if it was planted deliberately or just grew there on it’s own.

I don’t know when the pole went in so I have no way of knowing if this killing could have been prevented by some forethought.

I can make a case that opening up that corner will actually be good for the other plants and trees. And it may be so. Pruning is often necessary.

I’m glad, and grateful for my internet connection. And I’ll probably quit noticing the gap, which is considerable, in a month or two.

My wish is that all beings be happy and free from fear.

Darn! I want to apologize not only to that palm but to all the other plant beings humans wantonly destroy.

When they’re done I’ll go down to the spot and do some sort of ritual to heal at least me.

Thanks for listening.

Love and blessings,

Anne Wayman: When Grandmother Speaks

 

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Life Imprisonment For Juveniles? How Could That Make Sense?

Today the U.S. Supreme Court began to, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “mull” over life sentences for juveniles.

What’s to mull? How in the world can putting juveniles in prison for life make any sense at all? Even if they’ve murdered someone?

In 2010 the court decided that putting them to death was indeed a bad idea. I was horrified that it had ever happened or even needed to be heard in this country which used to pride itself on progressive ideas. But at least the Supremes made it illegal.

The cases the court is deciding today both involve black boys who were 14 when the killings occurred. Do you remember what it was like to be 14 years old?

According to the Journal article, Alabama’s solicitor general, John Neiman responded to a question by Justice Kennedy, “”Retribution, Justice Kennedy, would be the primary goal, bringing society’s retributive force to bear on those who commit the worst sort of crimes.”

Retribution? Against 14 year-olds?

Whatever happened to rehabilitation? Whatever happened to forgiveness? Whatever happened to a sense of proportion, that the ‘punishment should fit the crime’? How about some compassion?

The same article states we have 2,300 juveniles in prision without the possibility of parole. As far as I’m concerned one is too many.

I don’t know any more than what I read about these two cases. I can’t imagine what the relatives of the victims must feel.

I am convinced however that retribution isn’t the answer.

How do we protect ourselves from kids? We address proactively the problems that make them crazy. We turn the other cheek and teach love not hate. We learn to stop racism and to provide as much real equal opportunity as we can figure out how to do – and then we do some more.

We work to protect black children as much as we work to protect white children. And we start that by admitting there is a problem – in Alabama, in Florida and in my own back yard right here in San Diego – everywhere in the country in fact.

I work to confront my own now largely unconscious racism and to spot the institutional racism that’s so hard to see. I also work for social justice, largely through presenting Awakening The Dreamer symposiums. I also talk about these issues with my friends and work to have friends that don’t look like me.

Each and every one of us can help restore sanity to this country if we get involved – if we register people to vote, if we insist our elected representatives from the most local to the very top act in rational ways. Call, write, and talk with each other.

What will you do?

Love and blessings,

Anne Wayman: When Grandmother Speaks

 

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Commitment Power – That’s What It Takes To Change The World

Anthropologist Margaret Mead said “A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” (I looked for and found that quote at Brainy Quote.) What isn’t clear, of course, is exactly how many a small group of thoughtful people might be. We’re watching what might become the right [...]

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Occupy, Dual Incomes and Charity

The Occupy movement has started a conversation here in the United States that’s perhaps overdue. Although often accused of not having an agenda, they do have a unifying agreement on their home page which says in part: The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the [...]

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Joanna Macy

Years ago I was fortunate enough to do a workshop with Joanna Macy. Sometimes referred to as an Eco-philosopher with a PhD, she put me in touch with the grief I feel over the continuing destruction of the planet. That grief, which many, even most share, consciously or unconsciously, has informed at least some of what I [...]

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Women, Girls and Education

I’ve set my browsers (yes, I use both Google’s Chrome and FireFox) to open on TheHungerSite. I can click on a link and 1.1 cups of food are donated, totally free to me. I also occasionally buy t-shirts and such from the site and each purchase donates as well. Good way to start the day [...]

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U.S. Prison Population – We’re Doing Something Wrong

I’ve been aware that we lead the world in percentage of citizens incarcerated, but it didn’t hit home until I saw the picture associated with an article about how the State of California will reduce it’s prison population by filtering many of them into the regular population and to county jails. Somehow that picture, which I could [...]

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Honoring Those We Disagree With Without Giving Up Our Values

I’ve recently discovered the radio broadcast OnBeing. It’s one of those great broadcasts that makes you glad we support American Public Media and Public Radio. Hosted and produced by Krista Tippett, it’s an absolutely amazing series of conversations about key issues we, as a society, face today. So far my favorite has been the discussion Tippett [...]

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What Might A New Dream Be Like?

If what is needed is to change the dream of western civilization as the Pachamama Alliance in deep cooperation with the Achuar People war tell us and as Awakening The Dreamer Symposiums work for and as Four Years Go and The Shift Network, Barbara Marx Hubbard and a multitude of others point toward, what might that new [...]

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Thinking About Food & Hunger

What I’m reading: The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability My friend Ellie, who blogs at Minding The Middle Aged Middle, suggested I read The Vegetarian Myth. It’s turned out to be one of those books I wish I hadn’t read but I’m glad I did. It’s distressing, to say the least. First of all, I’m not [...]

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