9/15/2020 
“This is a Working Forest”



Signs with these words can be found all over Oregon. Every time I see one, I’m reminded just how delusional we are as a society. What this sign should say is, “this forest is exploited for profit.” 



To only see a forest for its trees is to be woefully blind and willfully ignorant.

Until we stop measuring the value of forests, rivers, mountains, animals, and people by how productive they can be for the sake of someone else’s profit, we’ll continue to experience apocalyptic-level devastation and dis-ease.

Anthropocentrism* WILL extinct humanity — along with most (if not all) other life on this beautiful, patient, and exhausted planet. But there is a way to avoid that fate...



If we choose to recognize nature as inherently valuable and admit our interconnectedness with all life (even “those” people with whom we share no common politics) … If we choose to practice reverence, accountability, and reciprocity with nature and each other … If we heal the wounds in our own heads and hearts that convince us there is “not enough” for everyone … if we stop taking and start receiving … we’ll bequeath a future to those who are not-yet-born that is harmonious, healthy, cooperative, inclusive, secure, and more beautiful than any of us can imagine today.

Policies, practices, and politics shift when we shift. 




*”Anthropocentrism, philosophical viewpoint arguing that human beings are the central or most significant entities in the world” [Encyclopedia Britannica].



Photo by Sebastian Unrau on Unsplash

9/2020
This is what I fear... I fear people growing so rigid and blind in their entitlement that they begin to lose a grip on conscience.

I am okay, but... a man just tried to drive me off the road and into a ditch. Again, I'm okay. I saw what was coming and was able to avoid that fate. A silver-haired, white man in a nice convertible was annoyed that I was slowing down to make a turn in an area I am unfamiliar with. He made it impossible for me to make my turn then tail-gated me until his attempt to run me off the road.

I am certain, had he been successful, he would not have stopped to see if I was okay, let alone, take accountability.

I have a Bernie sticker on the back of my car and my car looks like it belongs to a "leftist, hippie." How in the world can such things infuriate people so badly they are willing to harm others? I know my blood boils when I see certain types of stickers on cars, but I'd never, ever attempt to harm that person. (I am making an assumption here as to why he might have had it in for me).

This is the type of personality I think is one of the more dangerous to society. Someone who doesn't care about the harm he or she creates. These are the folks with whom meaningful debate is impossible because they are a one-way street.

It is scary to realize just how many people feel this entitled. They might only behave this way when they are alone... but far too many are trading in basic human decency for entitlement and the "freedom" to be a complete a$$hole.

I can't help but wonder if.... out there on that rural highway in a very white, "the government ain't gonna tell me to wear a mask" kind of town... what if I was Black?

6/2020
Thought of the day:

I've been struggling a lot with the phrase "I'm not a racist." This phrase fails to show an understanding of the racism soup we're ALL swimming in. But Rep. Cedric Richmond just cleared up for me how we'd better talk about it:

Unconscious (or implicit) bias: Biases we're unconscious of and that all humans struggle with around race, gender, class, politics, etc. (link below to go into more detail).

Conscious bias: This is what we mean by "I'm not a racist." We mean to say that we're not consciously or overtly racist. Of course, some folks are consciously and overtly racist (even if they claim they are "not a racist"). These folks are consciously cultivating, protecting, defending, and acting on their biases.

By looking at biases in this way, it is no longer a black or white thing, it is a continuum we're all navigating. And when it comes to racism, we must take accountability for where we land on the continuum, we don't get a pass with the phrase, "I'm not a racist."

I think some folks don't want to illuminate their unconscious or implicit biases because then they would be conscious to their complicity in upholding racism (and sexism, classism, etc). And to knowingly harm others is not what "good" people do. But, the reality is, denial and deflection of the biases that lurk within us do not make us "good," they make us willfully ignorant and a major part of the problem.