In this fractured world, why care? What is the point of caring in a world where humans cannot accept themselves, much less anything–or anyone–else?
We live in a world in crisis, and this crisis does not just refer to climate woes or social inequity. Rather, we live in a crisis of home, a crisis of the soul where people are encouraged to define their lives by the extent to which they achieve their individual dreams. The earth is merely a backdrop to a larger story in which humans are somehow architects of a brand-new future. Whose future and for whom?
It is often said that the children are the future. How is that possible? Is not the future contingent on today? As a species, all humans can do is live in the here and now because that is all that has ever existed.
The future is a mirage, a carrot dangling before us, and it is always just out of…………reach. Why care………….about now? Now is the only quantifiable experiential space that exists, and yet the space of now is invisible. Where does it begin? When does it end? How was it created?
While they appear abstract, these questions serve as the ethic upon which EcoDialogues rests. How can existential questions add practical value? Because the internal and external spaces of our lives have been co-created by a constellation of cosmic and everyday forces that stretch across billions of years.
Why care…………about now? Because now is all that has ever existed. It is always now, and yet there is no clear demarcation between past and future, which highlights the importance of accountability. We are all responsible for now, which is a shared space divided by perspective and experience.
Why care…………at all? Because everyone, every animal, every tree, every leaf, every molecule, everything everywhere in every place in every space has value, even if now presents us with challenges that threaten to break us individually and collectively.
Why care…………about everything? It is not clear where you or I begin or end, nor is it clear how the past affects our present. In a world intent on encouraging us to judge, critique, and dissect our differences (of perspective and experience), perhaps the most radical action to which we can commit ourselves rests in our ability to embrace our shared internal and external spaces.
These are complicated spaces that stretch back into a past that is full of bloodshed, colonization, and brutality. These are spaces not bound by time or circumstance. Rather, we carry our collective history on our backs and in our very bones. For some, this history is not a theoretical construct but a lived reality that can only be explored in dialogue.
How can we explore difficult spaces? Well, I do not think binary thinking gets us anywhere. Where are we going as a society when we are presented with ‘this’ or ‘that’ solutions to complex inequities that invite exploration instead of clenched fists and closed hearts?
Why care…………about other perspectives that diverge from our own? Because caring and compassion are not feelings that must be experienced (or shared) in a particular direction, nor are they necessarily bound by the cultural constraints of time. Rather, if we can conceptualize care and compassion as spaces, it invites open-ended explorations of our (and others’) perspectives and gentle humility.
What do we explore? If care and compassion can be reimagined as space rather than a skill or resource, we might discover it is endless. I have never seen space of any kind, but I have experienced it. Does space not exist?
While it may seem that none of us have the time to care or extend compassion to anyone, especially those we perceive as ‘wrong,’ perhaps we can find the space. I believe that if we can find the space (within ourselves) to care, then we can make the time.
Why care? Because spaces of care are as beautiful as they are difficult to find, especially as we age and discover that we are vulnerable in every possible way. Our vulnerabilities are what we share as humans–and regardless of color or creed, care is crucial because life’s meaning is not singular, nor can it be defined through theory.
Why care? Because life’s meaning is derived through experience, and every experience and every ‘thing’ matters…
