Greetings my relatives.
It is drizzling as I write to all my relatives. It is the soft spring rain that creates a dampening of the earth. You can almost see her drink deeply, thirsty with the thaw. Carried in the spring fog, tiny puffs of warm breath released from the earth. Spring in northern woodlands has an ethereal effect, glowing with the new growth green. As one of the champions for the WE Campaign for Interdependence in the eleven gardens of global unity, it seems fitting that I am watching this scene of new life outside my window as I write.
Interdependence is a fact. Natural Law. Necessary for life. The Campaign for interdependence, maybe, should be named the Campaign for Us to Remember to Honor and Respect Our Interdependence. I tried to remember the lessons that were shared with me to aid me in my understanding that interdependence was to be noticed, acknowledged, nurtured, and celebrated.
I imagine my granny auntie saying, “Well, my girl, notice comes from the word note, which means to take note of, just not written. Note how things are all woven together in life. You take note of it in your mind and let it teach you.” She would demonstrate this by her weaving of baskets, stories, and people. Later, we played games like how many connections can you see between the tree and the beaver and the water. Later, I was equipped to notice the interdependence of health with environmental justice and human rights and peace and how that interdependence was often not acknowledged among the human beings.
Part of the work of the campaign is to acknowledge interdependence and to elevate its visibility. Many years ago, I moved out of a very isolated small community where interdependence was a way of life. I got the berries, you got the moose, I hauled the water, you bandaged the wound, it was subsistence living. I was surprised by what I encountered when I found myself in the “developed” world. Education was separated from the Social Services. Social Services was separated from the Physical Health, Spiritual was separated from Justice, Young were separated from Old. The vast majority were separated from the natural world. Acknowledging that the disarmament campaign is connected to the economic justice campaign, that is connected to the health campaign, provides opportunity to support each other’s efforts and create a sustainable future. WE the World is working across campaigns to maximize our efforts. An example is the Campaign for the Environment has a youth and elders’ collaboration that is working with the Children and Youth Campaign. The Campaign for Health continues to support the Campaign for Peace.
That brings us to nurture. We are in paradigm shift of competing priorities to inclusive priority. That priority is sustaining and supporting life. We have seen this demonstrated in a variety of different initiatives. Examples elevating the way are abundant in our world. Rescued and abused horses introduced to trauma victims, both healing in the process. Environmental protectors joining forces with economic developers creating new growth while involving new generations. Networks building upon networks for social change, science and spirituality joining together to attend to the needs of our collective humanity. We can continue to nurture interdependence by looking to all the ways we can expand and include each other in our efforts.
Then there is celebration of our interdependence. There are indigenous teachings around our hands that speak to this idea of interdependence. If we think of humanity as a rubber band around the fingers, stretched taunt and kept in place, we know that a shift in one finger requires a shift in the others to keep the rubber band in place. Making the shifts necessary to expand our support of interdependence so that we can continue in our human experience seems a great celebration to me.
Join the WE campaign for the eleven days of unity where we will note, acknowledge, nurture, and celebrate our interdependence.
