I started journaling again today after a break of several months. I’ve felt mostly uninspired the last few months, and done no art at all. I’ve also felt truly lousy the last couple of days, and came home early from Japanese class last night, completely wiped out. Lately it’s just been day after day of hot, oppressively humid weather. Today it’s only 90, but still quite humid. The plants outside are wiliting in the heat, even the tropicals. My last line in the journal entry today was a comparison to the plants and their strength even in this weather, “I feel wilted, but alive.”
Perhaps in the heat of this summer, beginning to feel the effects of global warming and with just a hint of what future years may hold for us, this is the best we can hope for, to be wilted but alive. Maybe we can begin to make the changes we need to make, moving to more sustainable ways of living and alternative energy to lessen our impact on the world. The war over oil and the lands of the Middle East is the last war, and we are caught up in fighting it instead of planning for the future, a future that must be built on alternatives. We need smaller cars and houses, smarter ways of living that don’t require hour long commutes, better public transportation so we aren’t all out driving our own vehicles, and less need for that transpotation with houses built near stores and urban centers, instead of bedroom communities that require so much driving.
We are wilted, but alive, and we have to focus on our roots. The branches and leaves are pretty, but not necessary. We have to get back to what sustains us, and what is sustainable.
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