Connection

I missed posting last week because I was just too overwhelmed by the circus of absurdity and horror that the current US administration is enacting. I started to write and found that my litany of anger and frustration didn’t need to be shared. But then, a few days later, I started writing a small “teaching” for an interfaith program in my community. Each year, the Kingston Interfaith Council offers an annual interfaith service of gratitude in the fall, and we decided that, given the times we are living in, we should get together more often. So, last night, we held another event—what will hopefully become an annual spring event—and these are the words I shared.

April is full of religious observances—Eid, Easter, Passover, Vaisakh, and Ridvan—and of course, Earth Day. Now, Earth Day isn’t religious for everyone, but for me, who has spent my life cultivating a deep connection to our planet and the interconnectedness of all things, Earth Day and the full month leading up to it is a genuinely spiritual experience.

With each passing year, Earth Day gets more pressing. The existential reality of Climate Change and its effects - and the reality that these effects cause disproportionate harm to the global south, the poor, and the historically marginalized should be abundantly clear. And yet, world leaders and regular folk, especially in the United States, have actively chosen NOT to protect life on this planet. Remember - the Earth will survive and regenerate, but plants, animals, and humans, on the other hand, face extinction.

I know that’s harsh, and if you’re like me or the emerging adults that I work with, that reality probably fills you with grief and fear and even anger. Add this to the daily reminders that we are living in perilous times: People being “disappeared” off the streets, human rights and civil liberties being taken away or outwardly violated, poverty and famine, and suffering growing around the globe. It’s enough to make any of us want to give up - to put our heads in the sand and just check out.

However, retreat and apathy are not the answer. Just like our religious observances fill us with hope and renewed energy, so does the sight of flowers popping up and buds blooming and the chatter of birds in the morning. All a reminder that even amid uncertainty and pain, life continues. The challenge, for all of us, is how to maintain a sense of hope and joy amid all the suffering.

And this is why we are gathered here tonight. Connection is key. The only way to survive during these turbulent times and to create a better, more just and peaceful world is through connection.

Just like the Peonies need the ants, and the trees need the mycelium, and the cardinals need the twigs, and the flowers need the pollinators, we too need connections. And really, it’s not a choice. It’s actually part of the natural order. None of us exists alone, even when we feel so alone. Nothing we do in our day-to-day lives happens in isolation. For example, the food we eat has a long chain of connections starting with the seed - the gift given to us from Mother Earth herself, plus the farmer who started the seedlings, the water and sun and nitrogen and microbes in the soil that nourish, the farm workers who grew and reaped the crops, the people who cook for us or with us, etc…. Everything in our lives happens because we are part of an interconnected web of life, we are part of a system - an intricate network that starts on the subatomic level and allows us to survive and thrive. We each contain the same star stuff inside us as trees, squirrels, narwhals, protozoa, mushrooms…and each other. That’s miraculous! No one is separate. No thing is separate. Processes in nature happen because chemical reactions strive for balance, and most of us—either personally or globally—want the same. Thus, whenever we are faced with a decision, a choice - whether it’s what lettuce to buy or what seeds to plant or how to travel or where to shop or when to be silent and when to make good trouble - we have to remember that our actions directly affect others. Always.

So, this month, and every month, I invite you to spend a moment each day noticing how you are connected to…. everything. Regard with awe. Give thanks. Build bonds. Create networks of care. Show up for people you love and people you haven’t yet met. Plant the seeds today of a more connected and beautiful tomorrow.