Earthright

It is indeed self-evident that all humans are created free and equal: free, because our souls are a gift from heaven; equal, because we are created equally out of the Earth; we wear it’s fabric on our faces, carry its breath within our lungs, its minerals are in our bones and its sea pulses within our veins. We have truly been endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights – and all that follows from that belief does appear to be soundly based.

But It also seems self-evident that there is a prior claim which takes precedent to that free-and-equal clause. That claim is the right of the Earth to sustain and renew itself, for if that sustain-and-renew right is ever denied or lost, then all other rights, privileges, grants, precedents, and pleas will sweep across empty spaces devoid not only of reason, but also beyond all recourse.

We now know that seen from a distance in space, the Earth does appear to be a spaceship. Where is it bound? What is its course and destination? When will it arrive, and where? How much is it worth? It carries a cargo of gold, and has silver trim, and zinc and copper and many things of value. But it also has precious things: owls and rivers, mountains and deserts, forests and frogs. We know that gold and silver and zinc and copper are scattered throughout the universe, but where else can you find an owl or a frog?

How can anyone think that the Earth belongs to them? How can they imagine that it is theirs to torment? Did a merciful God give us this great gift to destroy? That we may “own” it and sell it, and whip it and scour it and poison it and kill all that is on it and make it do our bidding and whim, that it should work for us until it fails? That we should shred it and rip it a part and squeeze its great wealth, converting that to money for us to put in out pockets or bank accounts and discard the rest?

Or could we pay it the least compliment possible and declare it to be a “person,” and thus protected by our constitution, be considered equal to commercial corporations and entitled to enjoy life, liberty and to pursue it’s own happiness?

Or shall we wait until the last owl is in a zoo, and the last wild river in an amusement park? And where will we keep the last human being?

Are we that dreadful creature?

© John Womack, 2006. All Rights Reserved.