Why now for a Green New Deal?

By a strange and fortuitous set of circumstances, on the same day that mom and dad are bringing our new grandchild home, an email forwarded from Grandmothers for a Green New Deal arrived in our inboxes with a link to the video below. It is the children and grandchildren of this world who will benefit most from whatever responsible behavior we can conjure up and it is they who will suffer most if we fail them. Effective immediately, this elder, even though he is not now and never expects to be a grandmother, is part of the grassroots movement pushing for a Green New Deal. The most significant challenge I need to address is how to consistently follow Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's advice:

Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.

As part of this effort, I hope to demonstrate that one is, indeed, never too old to learn.

Once the World Was Perfect

By Joy Harjo

Once the world was perfect, and we were happy in that world.

Then we took it for granted.

Discontent began a small rumble in the earthly mind.

Then Doubt pushed through with its spiked head.

And once Doubt ruptured the web,

All manner of demon thoughts

Jumped through—

We destroyed the world we had been given

For inspiration, for life—

Each stone of jealousy, each stone

Of fear, greed, envy, and hatred, put out the light.

No one was without a stone in his or her hand.

There we were,

Right back where we had started.

We were bumping into each other

In the dark.

And now we had no place to live, since we didn't know

How to live with each other.

Then one of the stumbling ones took pity on another

And shared a blanket.

A spark of kindness made a light.

The light made an opening in the darkness.

Everyone worked together to make a ladder.

A Wind Clan person climbed out first into the next world,

And then the other clans, the children of those clans, their children,

And their children, all the way through time—

To now, into this morning light to you.

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Please be kind to each other while you can.