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be the change
November 2009 
spare change
Posted on May 3rd, 2008
by 
Amanda
Amanda
There is much talk here on Gaia of a change of conciousness. A shift of being. We espouse gentle and love filled ways of living. We share and send reiki and believe that our way of living will affect and infect all we encounter. We, as free thinking, forward moving individuals are quick to shake out our real life "blankets" and let them settle over us in a warm protective shell. As if to say "this is where I live and believe and breathe. This is my love around me and LOVE is all." While I do believe that Love and Eros can make the world a far more habitable place I've been forced to let my toes once again touch the real earth. I'm sorry to say but the real earth is cold. Food prices are skyrocketing. Fuel prices are signaling disaster. Basic necessities are stretching farther and farther out of reach for more and more people. My town has no public transportation and ours is not an oddity. My home is old and drafty. This too is not an oddity. We are one family among millions the nation and world over who are looking about our lives with new eyes. We are standing with millions on the edge of something ferocious, scrambling to hold on. While I'm certain a shift has occured, this certainly isn't the change I had envisioned. There is nothing friendly or gentle or lovely about this new world.
It is my job, as a mother, to protect my family. I am a big black mama bear. It is true that I have been known to run in alarm when, in fact, there was no danger. This time, however, I think the danger is even greater than my imagination permits. As a nation we have created this abyss and there will be no quick fix to fill or span it. It will be slow. It will be painful. Sacrifice and suffering will take on meanings yet unknown to many generations of people. Many will use thier plight as a platform for revolution. Others will sequestor themselves. Most will chose to stay blindered as long as possible, complaint-filled but unyeilding. All you need for proof is to count the Hummers still on the road.
I see and feel the possibility of one more path to lead us all safely back home. I am challenging you, my love filled and free thinking Gaian friends, to take up arms and come with me. And by that I mean come with me. Take up your shovels and spades. Stretch your legs and arms and hearts and head outside. Meet your neighbors. Take thier hands and till the earth together. Plant a garden and reap the benefits. Lock your car and dust off your bike. Walk. Find someone more in need than yourself and give them your change. Not from your wallet but from your heart. From your hands and feet and brain and back and goodwill. Sweat is as much a salve as tears. Give everything you have to spare and you will find there is always more to give. Get up. Turn off the lights.
Do. Go. Give.
It is my job, as a mother, to protect my family. I am a big black mama bear. It is true that I have been known to run in alarm when, in fact, there was no danger. This time, however, I think the danger is even greater than my imagination permits. As a nation we have created this abyss and there will be no quick fix to fill or span it. It will be slow. It will be painful. Sacrifice and suffering will take on meanings yet unknown to many generations of people. Many will use thier plight as a platform for revolution. Others will sequestor themselves. Most will chose to stay blindered as long as possible, complaint-filled but unyeilding. All you need for proof is to count the Hummers still on the road.
I see and feel the possibility of one more path to lead us all safely back home. I am challenging you, my love filled and free thinking Gaian friends, to take up arms and come with me. And by that I mean come with me. Take up your shovels and spades. Stretch your legs and arms and hearts and head outside. Meet your neighbors. Take thier hands and till the earth together. Plant a garden and reap the benefits. Lock your car and dust off your bike. Walk. Find someone more in need than yourself and give them your change. Not from your wallet but from your heart. From your hands and feet and brain and back and goodwill. Sweat is as much a salve as tears. Give everything you have to spare and you will find there is always more to give. Get up. Turn off the lights.
Do. Go. Give.
Access: Public
Amanda, I hear your call. So do others on Gaia, as there is a stirring for action. Perhaps you can join them as well? Two I know of: GLOBAL PEACE POD and Actions and Reactions
Thank you for your poetic call. It arises from the light, and is not separate from it. And as we have just discovered, the ONLY way to go through tough times, IS in a healing awareness; to make haste, take actions; but with that awareness that in a larger reality that we are moving towards, all is well. That is actually the impetus and what will help us to keep our shoulder to the wheel each time it is stuck in the mud.
And yes, it has started.
Amanda, linked to your blog in the comment of mine:
Make some sort of sense, perhaps :Courage, clarity, commitment, communication
Amanda,
You put this into words so well. I suppose that these things that we are witnessing right now have to occur in order for the shift to take place. these are our addictions as a human race (to Hummers and big screen TVs and fine dining and all of those grandiose things we take for granted.) I guess we, as a society, must hit rock bottom before we can collectively see the light.
It is true we see it now in the greed of corporations, in the prices we are paying at the register and the pump. Most families are struggling silently and alone. We might be afraid to come together because we are not sure if we can really trust each other yet. especially living in the wide open West, transportation issues are hard to solve, but we must start somewhere.
I will go with you. I will plant my garden, and ask my neighbors to join me. I will help others. I will listen and be open and honest because I realize we have far to go, and we mustn't give up just because the going gets tough.
Meenakshi and Andrea, thank you. It is frustrating for me to sit at a desk all weekend with (potentially) idle hands knowing how much I could accomplish if I no longer had the need to work. Yet, what is even more frustrating is seeing a neighborhood of empty backyards, empty parks, empty public spaces……I fear we are losing our ability to communicate face to face, hand in hand. I am guilty of this and I know it. This blog is as much a call to my own heart as it is a call to my friends. And I can say with all honesty that I would could not have come to this point without having been here, at Gaia, first.
The conversation continues at Meenakshi's place……Now it's time for me to go home. Much love, my friends, much love.
Amanda, may your garden blossom, I love your action plan, i see your deep love for your children in this too. Remember to give back to earth, if you want your gardens fertility to continue, organic matter helps the soil to retain moisture and adds nutrients, so save and compost kitchen and garden waste.
I suppose by keeping things simple and being aware and active in change we all are doing what we can and by '' changing '' little things are making a difference. I applaud your call and know that you dream of a balance and uniting in the now.
I understand how we may see certain things and question why?
I am seeing that in each voice of hope wonderful things are occuring, many no longer see the drive of material highs, seeking that which is real and true,
moving into a awareness with Mother Earth we are that possibility.
Thank you for youe great blog..
Gael– the whole family is excited about the garden this year. For the past few years we had a worm composting bin. It was great fun to see the little guys eating up our kitchen scraps. Of course the kids loved holding them and showing them off to friends. My houseplants and flower gardens loved them, too. Sadly, last fall when we started our construction project the worms ended up in the garage right when we had an early hard freeze. Poor little wormies! (Please don't report me to PETA ;-)
Ange– Thank you. Little things to help, as much as I would love to see a bigger sweep made faster. Right now I would be relieved and content if I could convince just one person to leave the car home for one day. To show them that it can be done. Slow and steady wins the race. I just wish I had the patience of Tortoise!
Much love!
Amanda, when you compost it encourages the worms in the garden, and they increase, lol, next thing you know Mr Mole visits, he loves worms!!!!! i was quite sad when the cats caught one.
We don't have moles here, but we do have bears! No outside composting at our house. Bears are wonderful creatures I would much rather see from a great distance ;-). We don't even feed the birds in the warm months. Our cats are strictly the indoor variety (much to thier horror) as we have fox and mountain lions here, too. Wow, saying it like that makes our backyard seem so dangerous!
Happy gardening!
Wow, bears and lions does sound dangerous. The only dangerous creatures we have are wild boar which can be dangerous if cornered or with young, but mostly quite shy and we don't often see them, just evidence like wallows and hoof prints.