Microcosms In Me
I’ve recently been reading about a campaign initiated by a certain friend to save trees from being cut down callously. This event was followed by a gushing fondness and admiration for the man and his cause. It brought to mind countless other such samaritans of the rather ancient (in todays hyper speed context) chipko movement. The conservation of nature itself struck a deeper chord as I delved deeper in my thoughts. I’ve raved and ranted about being far from nature in the concrete underbelly with odours oh so smelly yet how conveniently have I overlooked my own inherent being as a being born of nature. I worry about the earth warming up while I barely give a damn about my own ass being fried. Forests disappearing disturb me though my own hair falling raises hardly an eyebrow. If I can magnanimously accept my own mortality will it be easier to accept the fact that my planet is going to die? When every cell in my body is going to decay and die as pre-planned by my conspiring DNA, does not the same hold true for my planet? As I have painstakingly learned to care for my own body, does my compassion encompass the macrocosm of nature and its bounties?
The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly.> - Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
Filed under: Main on March 31st, 2008