Ghandhi’s first act of civil disobedience was aimed at the British Salt Tax. Salt was deeply symbolic to Ghandhi. “Next to air and water, salt is perhaps the greatest necessity of life,” he said. He understood that an item of everyday use would resonate more than an abstract demand for greater political rights.
Vandana Shiva is using seed preservation as both a practical and metaphorical response to agri-business, the genetic manipulation of seeds, the decline of the family farm and climate change. Seeds remind us, says Vandana, “… that the world is about life, not just profits and bottom lines. And in all of this, the beautiful thing is, the concrete solutions are the most radical ones. The abstract has had its day.”
The seeds of similar transformations are embedded in our everyday, practical acts of caring of each other, the birds, water, trees and indeed all life. Taking care happens every day, everywhere, and by pretty well everyone. Taking care is the fabric of our lives.
Taking care is a potent rallying force because of its universality. Like salt and seed, taking care is a great necessity and deeply symbolic. It is life affirming and a practical manifestation of what we are all capable of.
Nurturing a culture of care. How beautiful is that?
Take heed environmentalists, poverty activists, disability rights advocates, community builders, social innovators and other change-makers. Don’t ignore our most powerful asset.
EH!
It’s a wonder that so many people are good, not that so many people are evil.
– Carol Shields
“Love lifts us up where we belong.
Where the eagles cry
On a mountain high.”
– From Up Where We Belong by Buffy Sainte-Marie recent winner of the prestigious Polaris Prize. Have a listen here. Buy here.
Can you hear the eagles cry at the end? That’s where we belong. What a gift she is to our world.
Caring Makes the World Go Round
Thinking Like a Voyageur – Prévoyance
Without a Vision People Perish; Without a Vehicle Vision Languishes
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