Experiments with dirt

On the day I held a fistful of dirt in my hand, everything changed. I think I'd been raking leaves and twigs, mingled with the occasional small feather and soda can when it came to me that the very crust of the entire Earth consisted of leftovers from all the past life it produced over millions of years. Weather and age turned this leftover matter into granules of dirt, the stuff we call soil. Simple, right? There's more. I looked around the place and could not find one, not one item that did not come from the Earth. Everything appeared to be derivatives of Nature, in other words, where was this fabulous industrial progress we've been conditioned to worship? You should try these exercises for yourself. I am not trying to be an authoritarian here, just an observer. Metals, plastic, chemicals, colors, kitchen tiles, the linoleum, our clothing, electricity, the bricks, books, soaps, the list is endless because the Earth is rooted in every item we use, the only exception is that which comes from our own creative inspirations, the Humanities. Maybe this is the only real progress we've ever made, adding our emotional input to the vast body of literature and art, music and dance, drama, all of which are achieved though our relations with and observances of one another.

If one is so conditioned as to never having noticed these easy things I've mentioned, they probably wouldn't figure out we are also living off the Earth, another layer of bark on top of her crust, another plant species traveling on our way inside the circle of birth, life, death, decomposition, nutrient, plant, seed, sprout, etc., at any given moment. What we become and how quickly we regenerate is up to Nature's temperment.

This is how we get stupid people in our midst: They've invested heavily in technologies that are progress-oriented by either believing they've invented something new or clerked for someone's outfit that believes they're doing something innovative. Lately its the Greenies. I really hate to say this, but between Rube Goldberg and Dr. Mengele, we're not exactly progressing, are we. When you consider Monsanto's experiments with Gaia and tally the amount of pharmaceuticals your health provider willingly dispenses to relieve "symptoms", you'd be kind of slow not to grasp the experimental nature of our amazing progress. Progress - which is has been redefined as solution. Solution - which has been redefined as you pay for it, your children and their great grandchildren pay for it. Sometimes, maybe all the time, we pay for it with our lives like lab animals. That time is getting closer and there is no progress, no solution, no paying our way to avoid the inevitable waiting on the horizon. How could there be as long as we're only experimenting with what we already have? Toying with the future, as if there was no tomorrow, as if we'd never run out?

Every media outlet wants us to know it will all go on forever, the plankton is THRIVING, there are plenty more Sardines where those came from and the life giving flood waters ALWAYS return to the Serengeti. They are still shoving shiny autos down our throats, promising to take them back if you lose your job (one year disclaimer) even though the states can't keep up the (experimental) infrastructure we were all conditioned to trust was inviolate. They are at this very hour arguing how Ms. Sotomayer might impact on Roe vs Wade ... They are bickering over waterboarding ... This will go on ad nauseum until fracking shows them the gas is depleted and the tar sands extract only granules of Earth, the same dirt I held in my hand and saw that small, soft, perfect feather they didn't see.