Green Tribe of Belonging

  Back when the earth was early in its evolution, it was made of inert materials. This was 4.5 billion years ago and the earth was just forming in our galaxy. What we know now as our planet home went through many stages before it settled into a solid globe with scattered land masses surrounded by oceans. About .8 billion years after its initial formation, the very first life appeared. In the beginning, this life was made up of mostly one-celled bacteria: tiny and simple, tentative experiments in living form. About 1 billion years ago, multi-celled algae came on the scene. These first more complex life forms began in the water but eventually moved up onto the land. And gradually there was an explosion of diverse plants and animals spreading into every crevice of our world. Looking from the human vantage point, where a year is a long time, the billions of years before us in the evolution of our planet can be mind-boggling. So much has happened over such a very long time span. So many...

  Returning Home Earth moves through rays of sun, turning, balancing. All of us part of that round bright whole. Her life force brought us here, all of us from the smallest amoeba to the largest whale, even our intrepid species homo sapien, who’ve used our brains and hands to manipulate the earth, the land.  Even our species is part of the whole. Does Earth Mother feel us as a blight? Does she still have patience to nurture us though we continually harm her? Once we worshiped her, gave her tender care, talked to her, honored her as our source. But over time we set ourselves apart, placed ourselves at the top, ruling over all. We forgot our place, we forgot our grounding. Now our blinders are pulling back, we see our world in peril. Our grandchildren will have no home here, unless we mend our ways and right the wrongs. Let’s lay aside the illusion of power turn toward the web of life and take our place as fellow creatures, not dictators, open our eyes to the fabric of the livin...

 For most of my adult life, I was hardly aware that many people watched sports on TV or in person. I was too busy raising a family, maybe. And the culture of the small mountain community where I lived did not seem to notice the whole phenomenon of national sports events like football, basketball and baseball. Then I moved back to Iowa in order to be a support to my aging mother. I worked and lived at a Quaker boarding school nearby (Scattergood) and drove the couple miles to my mother's farmhouse several times a week to check on her and help her with things. Whenever I turned up at her house in the evening, I would find her in the kitchen in front of the big TV watching a game. Depending upon the season, it was football in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring and summer. And she was an avid fan. Her feet would be stamping on the floor when the excitement of the game was at high pitch. She would praise or bemoan different plays depending upon how it turned o...