Oh,the Joy of a Daffodil

Finally I was able to pick some flowers from the garden, daffodils, to make a fresh flower vase. Last year I had daffodils and more flowers in March. Now with the chilly weather in the forecast for the end of April it looks like it will be May before the flowers really get in bloom. This climate change or climate cooling or warming is, according to some experts, beyond the scope of no return. Glaciers melt, avalanches increase on Mount Everest, sever droughts in parts of USA, mudslides in Washington State, lack of spring in Milwaukee, what is happening to our earth?

Earth Day was yesterday and celebrations go on until next week. But what can we celebrate when the ‘big powers that be’, mining companies in Guatemala, energy consuming giants in China and cars in USA just keep poisoning the earth in the name of money.

Money trumps democracy in elections, with person with most money usually the winner; Money is free speech according to our Supreme Court; Love of money keeps taxes low and poverty high; Now will money trumps the Earth! What good is money if we do not have a livable earth? We cannot eat money, use it as a shelter, plant in the group to grow it or even drink it.

My African niece just returned from visiting her family, 16 years after escaping civil war and extreme poverty in her home in Sierra Leone. I remember how much she seemed to suffer from the separation from her family that lives in poverty, even after the civil war. Although she was poor and a struggling student she would faithfully sent money home whenever she could. Now after returning to USA after a three week visit she is homesick once again. She told me how her family still struggles in extreme poverty but how joyful and full of life everyone was. After I picked her up and brought her here for some dinner and to pick up her car the first thing she did was to get a phone card to call home. It took her several calls to reach someone on the block her extended family lives. Although it was very late at night it turns out it was the day with electricity, every other day, and all the cell phones (no landlines after the war) were recharging and many in her family were watching a movie. She has a decent job here but has piles of debt from her education. Her family has little work and money but enjoys each other and lives life fully.

Making money trumps our environment but leaves us often with poverty of joy.

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