Compassion is a hard sell! The word comes from the Latin and means "suffer with." Developing a compassionate heart takes time, practice, and patience, another word rooted in suffering. But compassion is essential to the work of sustainable living.
Nurturing compassion for the Earth is a healthy practice, especially as we hear in the news constant reminders of the effects of global climate change—drought, floods, the migration of people in search of arable land, and whole species disappearing from the face of the Earth. There are no simple answers to the suffering we see every day. It's easy to get burned out and cynical.
Compassion may not solve the problems we witness, but it changes us. It makes our hearts more open and welcoming. It frees us from the demand for results from our actions on behalf of the planet. It allows a flowering from within that can change the world
There is a power in standing with others and the Earth that is very healing. And hard.
As a young man, I volunteered part-time at an agency in South Bend, Indiana, that was a last resort for people having trouble paying rent or keeping the lights and heat on in their homes in the bitterly cold winters. Sometimes we called around to churches in the area asking for $10 to help pay for someone's utility bills. But mostly we just listened to problems that had no easy solution, like addiction and mental illness. We showed respect and compassion for our clients, hoping that would help. Most days, I went home after volunteering, depressed and down on myself. My education and upbringing trained me to solve problems, help people, and contribute to the common good. Compassion means staying in powerlessness and uncertainty with another person. I was not very good at it.
One day, when I was waiting for my car to be serviced in Orinda, I saw a small bird with deformed feet poised on the other side of my table at Starbucks, waiting for a bit of my bran muffin to fall in its direction. It was a little thing, but it reminded me that pollution can cause deformities. Some pollution has an estrogenic effect, rendering small animals sterile. What about watching a storm collapse homes into the sea or seeing a dry riverbed where a clear, cold stream used to flow? Or watching another family climbing a muddy path in the Darian Gap, exposed to exploitation and struggling to move North for a better future?
As much as we can, I think it is good to witness and momentarily feel a pain that we cannot eradicate but share. Act if and how you can: volunteer for SCOCO, shop at local farmers' markets, help fix bikes, or sign petitions. And then we have to let go for a bit. Sometimes reading a well-written story with a happy ending will help, or listening to inspiring music like Aaron Copeland's "Appalachian Spring." In other words, in the face of the suffering of the world around us, we need to nourish our souls. Otherwise, the burden is too much. Make friends with a tree you see daily. Garden with someone you love. Walk in Shell Ridge, Mount Diablo, or one of our local creeks or reservoirs.
Listen to a podcast of modern-day prophets like Greta Thornburg ranting about the destruction caused by the Capitalist global economy because anger can be a positive emotion; it shines a light on problems we want to ignore. Listen to her with friends and family, and then maybe read poetry that celebrates nature's beauty.
Here are some resources:
Poetry Foundation Poems for the Environment
Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California
Wendell Berry, a poet and essayist who writes about the land in Kentucky where he and his wife, Tanya, run a farm, said:
For a time, I rest in the grace of the world, and am free. The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.
Photo by Jim Gunshinan
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