When I get discouraged by The State of the World, I turn towards small things. My backyard planting won't offset the pollutant dumping in the river 4 blocks away, but, I tell myself, it might make a difference for one bird.
I was talking to my mom about 2020 and we both admitted that it had been our best financial year up to that point. For most people, it threw their jobs into chaos, but I was in my first full time role with a steady paycheck. (I was also knitting baby socks and watching Alias with my eyes glassed over, so don't think I totally escaped 2020's curse). But the point is, even when everything's going terribly for a large group, there is space for goodness.
I like the idea that we're here to create as much of that goodness as possible. We can't start a commune that magically solves energy crisis and food waste for everyone. But we can walk someplace. We can have a friend over for dinner, sustaining bodies and our hearts. We can make the back patch of earth a buffet for beetles who will never know anything else. Isn't that a lovely thought? That there could be a creature that only knows abundance on this earth?
We can't do it all, but maybe we can make our backyards better for one creature. And maybe? That creature can be us.
