Thursday April 22, 2021 

If this column seems a little lighter than usual, it’s because I completely forgot about writing it for the local weekly paper. Until today. Which happens to be Earth Day, 2021.

            A few years ago, a visiting friend asked me what I thought of the state of the world. 

            At the personal level, I said, I’m an incurable optimist. I don’t know of any individual who would refuse to help out another individual in need. 

            I know, I know, there are occasional stories of someone being murdered while 27 eyewitnesses did nothing. But those stories make the news because they’re the exceptions. 

            Most individuals can be, and are, compassionate to other individuals. 

            At the collective level, though, I am equally pessimistic. As a human species, we seem incapable of thinking beyond the present. We are terminally short-sighted. 

Short-sighted decision making

            An article told of a professor of ethics who asked his class: if they were offered a new invention that would change their lives forever, that would give them unprecedented mobility and independence, but that would eventually require sacrificing thousands of young men and women every year, would they accept?

            The class was unanimous: No!

            “But you have already,” the professor said. “It’s the automobile.”

            His example illustrates the way we make decisions. We look only at the immediate benefit. We avoid – or choose to ignore – the longer term implications. 

            And those are rarely as beneficial as we imagine they will be. 

Symbolic action

            For years, I wondered why some batches of orange juice that we mixed for breakfast fermented, and others didn’t. Finally I realized it was because of the spoons we used. 

            When we stirred with a short-handled spoon, our fingertips dipped into the juice. When we stirred with a long-handled spoon, they didn’t. 

            Even that momentary immersion of bare skin transferred some of the bacteria that cling to us – biologists say that there are more bacteria in and on our bodies than human cells – got into the mix and caused it to ferment. 

            It feels like a symbolic truth.  Whatever we humans touch, we change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes not. 

            Collectively, we have made enormous progress in controlling, preventing, and treating diseases. Life spans have soared. So have standards of living, even in the poorest countries. 

            But the improvement has been for humans. Not for other species. The David Suzuki Foundation estimates that more than 150 other species go extinct every day. 

            I remain unconvinced that disposable coffee cups, plastic water bottles, and asphalt paving have changed the world for the better. 

            We need more housing. But endless 5000-square-foot single-family residences on bulldozer-flattened subdivisions are not the answer. 

            I do what I can. I recycle. I repair rather than replace. I re-use plastic bags. I turn off lights and turn down thermostats. I burn as little fossil fuel as feasible. I have so little waste that one garbage pickup a month would easily suffice. 

            But even if everyone followed my example, population growth would negate our efforts.

            So I encourage everyone to do what they can at an individual level, not just on Earth Day but every day. 

            But I remain profoundly pessimistic about the human impact on this planet. 

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Copyright © 2021 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.

            To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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YOUR TURN

John Shaffer lived for a while in Spokane, a region that has known volcanic activity and dust: “As I worked in the backyard (without gloves) my hands were hurting, and then the light bulb went on.  I was working in dirt filled with volcanic ash.  I didn't make that mistake twice.  My hands recovered...I think...they hurt for different reasons now.”

John hoped I hadn’t visited Mount St. Helens before its eruption. Tom Watson had similar thoughts: “Whew! I was beginning to think that volcanoes erupted soon after you visited. Glad to know they're coincidences.”

James Russell liked my musings on coincidences. He added, “But it does remind me of a quote from Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger: ‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action’.”

Isabel Gibson took my ideas farther: “Maybe you have another entry for the "Man is the animal that…." list. You know - the tool-using animal (the definition up with which I grew). The language-using animal. The story-telling ape. And so on. Maybe we are the Earthlings who find meaning in coincidences.”

Robert Caughell added this: “Volcanic eruptions occur on their time scale, not ours. Mount Helens was presumed to be dormant until it exploded. The Yellowstone National Park Wyoming super-volcano, 40-mile-wide cauldera, is long past time to erupt. When it does it will have worldwide effect like Krakatoa.”

            Or even more so: JT

Bob Rollwagen has also visited a volcano: “I have been on Saba, a beautiful dead volcano with a wonderful rain forest near the top, up in the clouds. I think Saba is about half way between the two you mention -- coincidence I guess. It would be a greater coincidence if I met you going up the next time I am coming down. 

            “I will assume you [would] enjoy Iceland. [Yes. JT] I had tickets to go before Covid. I’m amazed at the number of coincidences I have experienced. There may be a connection to a busy lifestyle.”

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Psalm paraphrase

You may find this hard to believe, but I’m getting tired of Psalm 23. It has sublime sentiments, powerful imagery, and memorable phrasings. But it comes up several times every year. I’ve written four different paraphrases to try to keep the metaphors fresh. This is probably the one I have used least – the feeling of coming home after a succession of hotel rooms, rental cars, and wearying meetings.

It's so good to be home, 

to lie down in my own bed,
to play my favourite music,
to shed the tensions of travel
the way water runs off my shoulders in the shower.

Thank you, God.
You got me to the right gates in the airports;

You delivered me from dangerous drivers;
You kept me from getting lost in the concrete canyons of the city.
You gave me courage to face my critics. 

You did not desert me.
When I was lonely, you found me a friend;
When I was weary, you led me to a welcome.
The airline didn't lose my bags.

I am at peace.
I'd like to live in these familiar walls forever...

Come live with me, and let me live with you.

You can find paraphrases of most of the psalms in the Revised Common Lectionary in my book Everyday Psalms available from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.

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TECHNICAL STUFF

If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, jimt@quixotic.ca.

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            And for those of you who like poetry, please check my webpage .https://quixotic.ca/My-Poetry I posted several new poetic works there a few weeks ago. If you’d like to receive notifications about new poems, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca, or subscribe yourself to the list by sending a blank email (no message) to poetry-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca (If it doesn’t work, please let me know.)

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PROMOTION STUFF

To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols. Some spam filters have blocked my posts because they’re suspicious of some of the web links.

            Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca He’s also relatively inexpensive!

            I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom. She also has lots of beautiful photos. Especially of birds.

            Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom (NB that’s “watso” not “watson”)

ALVA WOOD’S ARCHIVE

            I have acquired (don’t ask how) the complete archive of the late Alva Wood’s collection of satiric and sometimes wildly funny columns about a mythical village’s misadventures. I’ve put them on my website: http://quixotic.ca/Alva-Wood-Archive. You’re welcome to browse. No charge. (Although maybe if I charged a fee, more people would find the archive worth visiting.)