Oil paddies, photo by Joe Denton, June 5, 2010

The birds, crabs, and fish at Katrina Cut have little choice. Two birds huddling together stared at me with a look of deep uncertainty. Nearby dolphins fed on schools of mullet. The animals there were nesting, resting, and swimming with the oil … a paradise lost. Large horseshoe crabs once flourishing in these waters were washing ashore dead.

I’m upset because I’m losing this paradise. I feel cheated. But why am I upset? Why, when so many people around me live in daily fear, rejection, and denied opportunities. Perhaps the oil eruption will crash my attachments and illusions … prompt me to care more and fear less … to regain reality. The crucified live all around me. The oil eruption is toxic … symptomatic of all that I have neglected. It’s a rude awakening, but I needed a real kick in the pants.

We as a human family need healing just as our environment needs healing. But healing can only be found with the crucified … jobless … unnoticed … lost … hurting … imprisoned … mourning … all of us included and active.

Energetic cooperation between all of us is where we find the Spirit, our All in All, who boundlessly enlightens, empowers, and heals. Fears, illusions, and attachments can hold us back, but now is the time to share our lives, needs, and talents. Our promised future is passionately reaching out to us but it is unwritten.

Mia Rose singing Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield