Our Home Mother Earth


Well, yes I am writing again about our beloved trees and caring for Mother Earth. We have a responsibility to her and yet it is more than responsibility.
Mother Earth gives us our home and amazing beauty. If you love something, you need to care for it. Caring for our home is imperative or else she and we will die. There are a million things each of us can do, one simple thing is to plant a tree somewhere. The energy of trees is so tremendous and we need all of our growing things.

There is a very simple scientific principle which brings home the importance of our trees and flowers and gardens. When humans breathe we exhale carbon dioxide which plants and trees need. The trees and flowers and crops give off oxygen which we need to breath. It is a cycle that happens every second of every day. It takes no effort, except that we not cut down our rainforests and green areas. It is vital though to our existence.

“May our corner of the earth join us
in blessing the Lord
fruit-laden papayas, fig trees in bud
You, guavas, replete with promise,
bougainvillaeas of every color,
beans that twist and clamber,
tomatoes and all green vegetables
and you, fields of rice in the valleys,
O praise the marvels of the Lord!

And you, Bamboo, who own neither flower
nor fruits, sing a song of praise to the Lord,
for you are rich in other ways:
supple and lively, hold your head high,
yield before the storm, but do not break.
Your shoots, hugging to one another all close,
will confront the hurricane.
Then, when it’s passed,
lift up your head!
And if the typhoon sweeps you away,
let it carry you with it.
Someone will find you lying on the road
or maybe you will kindle a poor man’s fire
or be made into a balance pole
to ease Man’s burdens!

If need should arise, let yourself be split
into strips by the hand of a clever craftsman.
Thus you will become a mat or a basket,
a broom or a brush—-again, on demand,
let yourself be used whole, without hesitation,
to support the sail of a sturdy junk
or enable a fisherman to cast his net.

In you, Bamboo, some will seek inspiration
to guide their brush towards lines of beauty,
or make of you a flute or a pipe.
Let yourself be emptied of self that you may
sing a melody new.
Some may try to make of you a barrier
to separate people one from another
Then let your leafage vibrate with the rustle
or a call which will resound near and far
and invite them to live in unity and love!

—Translated from the French by Mary Rogers