e a r t h

“...until we can grieve for our planet we cannot love it—grieving is a sign of spiritual health. But it is not enough to weep for our lost landscapes; we have to put our hands in the earth to make ourselves whole again. Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair.”
—Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

As I take a moment to reflect on the Earth Days that have passed in our home, a nostalgia lingers over our days of making play dough for shaping little earths, its continents, and talking about earth care. We have a tradition of doing a clean up but prior to the picking up of trash, I invite them to play and see the wonders of this old earth, we do it to spark compassion for the very place we live, we do it hoping they will feel compelled to care and steward the beauty they see with genuine interest. And more often than not, as they find treasures they also see the trash and the clean ups happen in tandem.

While climbing around on those forbidden rocks at Thorndale beach one day, they saw much trash caught between the crevices, so much so, they pitched the idea for a clean up and then, something we’ve never done before, they wanted to invite others to join us.

Now, it happened to be our turn to lead the discussion for the Navigators troop in Chicago and with it being our family’s “earth week,” the kids put together a little presentation about earth and the great lakes, and invited their troop to do a clean up. It was a privilege to see them pull together a presentation, delegate parts amongst themselves, use recycled materials, and finally share it with others.