Thank you for the words of encouragement in the comments yesterday... I didn't realize how much I needed to hear them until I heard them. I'll pass it on to At, but please know they really, really helped me too.
I was a bit downcast today--I blame the cloudy then rainy weather, the national and world news, dropping off excess from the campus gender-affirming closet at a donation center that took me past the homeless encampment, and watching Alien: Earth with Big A last night. Corporate greed and fuckery are everywhere and worries for my kids, kids in general, and the world kind of took over my brain.
I'm rereading Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass and she gets right to the heart of it: “modern capitalist societies, however richly endowed, dedicate themselves to the proposition of scarcity. Inadequacy of economic means is the first principle of the world’s wealthiest peoples. The shortage is due not to how much material wealth there actually is, but to the way in which it is exchanged or circulated. Grain may rot in the warehouse while hungry people starve because they cannot pay for it. The result is famine for some and diseases of excess for others.”
She fills my soul when she talks about how gratitude fosters abundance (when we say thanks, we find so much to be thankful for!) and how she taught her daughters to garden so "they would always have a mother to love them, long after I am gone.” So I spent some time with the trees, grass, and plants when I got home to reset. There is so much to be grateful for... It's only a question of redistribution.
Pic: The Maple River on my way to work. It's what the kids and I used to call our "deep breath of beauty."
https://www.pocobrat.net/2024/05/standing-in-beauty.html
https://www.pocobrat.net/2024/02/check-1-2.html
https://www.pocobrat.net/2020/01/sunrise-snip.html
https://www.pocobrat.net/2019/10/here-comes-sun.html
https://www.pocobrat.net/2021/11/maple-moment.html
16 comments:
Have you read her new one? I loved it so much I sent it to Harry who was an Econ major at the time. Such a deceptively simple takedown of capitalism
"Gratitude fosters abundance" - I love it. This book sounds fascinating.
Glad you were able to reset and fill your soul!
It's so easy to get overwhelmed these days that sometimes I have to think, well, it's not the Civil War (yet), it's not the black plague (yet). Maybe it won't get that bad and if it does, people have gotten through much worse.
I've debated reading Braiding Sweetgrass - now you've convinced me to read it. I think I should get the physical copy and slowly read it. The passage you shared was so insightful!
Take care.
I smiled at your second paragraph because it is so full of maya-irony. There was excess in the campus gender-affirming closet, so you took it to a donation centerwhile worrying over the state of the world. Yes, the world at large is full of greed and corruption, but You are still making a Difference, and so are people on your campus. Try to remember that when you mourn for the state of the world. (And I know you are not the only one!)
Gratitude DOES foster abundance, and our world is full of it - you're right, it is a matter of distribution. But you're doing your part beautifully my friend.
My friend Kate was reading this at Art Camp. It sounds just lovely. And so very thoughtful, timely. There is so much that is challenging right now, pulling us every which way. I'm glad you found some comfort.
Yes! That's what got me rereading this again.
I think you would like it, Jenny. I picture you listening to it as you run through fields...
People *have* gotten through worse. We *are* getting throught this. Thank you, Steph.
It's one of those books that doesn't have to be read in one sitting, Lisa. I like your book plan!
Thank you!
Thank you, Nance. I smiled at your interpretation too :)! (I was merely trying to explain my presence on the side of town that always exists but I rarely frequent, but I see your point.) <3
Thank you, Nicole. XOXO
Jeanie, You know... this sounds like the perfect read for camp. It's such a refreshing reset.
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