Aging and Greening and a Spiritual Core

What does one have to do with the other?

It is all the rage. It is impossible to go one day without being reminded that we are not taking good care of this special place called the world. The price of gas is high - take public transportation. Bring your own shopping bags to the grocery store. Buy those ridiculous looking light bulbs, that by the way go on too slow and make me blink. Recycle, walk, use solar panels, have a bamboo floor, walk carefully with your oxygen footprint. The list is endless and ... it is terrific.

We, the 55ers, are however at an age that much of this is not new. Many of our parents reused the foil paper, had a shopping cart (we called them old lady carts) to go to the grocery store, always brought a bag to that store as they went from store to store for specialty items and I clearly remember being warmed by the sun or put on a sweater and ... using the tea bag twice (or more). We thought these were things we did because we didn't have any money. A lot of it was about money but it was really much more about being responsible. Or maybe it was both. So is our generation way ahead of the pack?

Actually the truth is that we are babies at this game. Every spiritual culture mandates the people to take care of the earth. It is couched in a variety of voices and ways. The Native Americans have beautiful and meaningful lessons and stories describing that the earth is a gift from the spirit (Nokomis, earth mother) and it is the people who live on it that are mandated to care for it. The ancient Hebrews are told in the book of Deuteronomy 'not to waste' that the world, God's gift, is to be nurtured and cherished for the ones yet to come. There are examples in all significant religious cultures that our job on this earth is to protect this gift.

The responsibility is generally laid on guess who? The nurturers, the caregivers, the women. Mother Earth, Nokomis, Mother Nature or whatever the figure is called is the responsible one. I can see my matriarchs walking down the street with the rolling cart, saving tin foil and making due until it became a habit. I assumed it was something that you did when you got to be old and responsible. I think we need to take back that job, even if we have to fly to our respective jobs or visit the grandkids or take care of our elders. We, the spiritually adapt, can adapt that mission of taking care of the world as we were commanded by a higher source than the government and take care of the world because it is ours and ours to give and enjoy with those we love. We will make it an adventure, an important one.