Photograph: Sharron R. McMillan
Some would have us believe we are simply puppets
manipulated, coerced, controlled by someone or something greater than we.
I disagree.
We are here, in an incredible universe that contains everything we need
to grow, thrive and be happy.
All the water, all the food, all the fresh air – everything we need.
We have all the intelligence, wisdom and creativity
to use, share, renew and value all we have.
But we have given control of all that we have to those who seemed wiser, more powerful
and who promised great benefits if we put them in charge.
We have handed over our conscience to those who tell us what to believe,
and our sense of worth to those who judge us for what we lack.
We have given up our freedom to those we try to appease but can never satisfy,
and when their abuse causes the destruction of all we once owned
we blame and complain
but don’t even think to take back what we handed over so freely.
We need to take back our own strings
and start pulling for good stewardship of what is ours to use and value,
for sharing with all who live here not just those who think they are more important,
for the freedom of all to pull their own strings of creativity and survival
for the future of those who will live here after us.
Money will never replace water, air, food and freedom.
It is time to snip those strings that tie us
to those industries that abuse natural resources for profit,
to those developers who use up and move on
with no responsibility for the destruction left behind,
to those countries who break all the laws of nature in order to have power over all others,
to those nations who have no regard for the culture, traditions, history or freedoms
of other nations.
Strings that weave greed, control, abuse and accumulation must be unraveled
so we can once again survive and care for
this beautiful world that has everything we will ever need
to live
and to die
in peace and happiness.
We hold the strings.
©2016 Sharron R. McMillan
hernibs 