Holiday Inspiration and Reflection

The end of the year is a time for reflections on the past and hope for the future. As we wind down the 2006-year, I would like to reflect on a few events and point out some opportunities for the future. In a world with growing population and diminishing resources, it is imperative now more than ever to work together collectively as neighbors and nations. How we collectively cope will be solely dependent upon how we come together as a community. The environment, global climate change, geopolitics, social justice and economics are all issues that will require us to rethink the way we have dealt with issues in the past. And they challenge us to find a new path forward for social and national cohesion in the future. We can start living more compassionately with each other and in relationship to the planet. We need to begin challenging the way we think about energy, the environment and social justice and look squarely in the mirror at our own responsibility to save resources for future generations. We can't continue with "business as usual" a simple scan of the newspapers and headlines let us know that every day. Perhaps we need to modify our economic system to reflect the natural rhythms of the earth as a finite system. Together we can develop more enlightened goals. More enlightened than increasing consumption and most importantly we must challenge the assumption that we need ever increasing amounts of energy to meet human needs and provide happiness. Perhaps we can live happy lives consuming less, perhaps, because we consume less.
As we enter this season of giving, think about what the basis of giving really is. It is the acknowledgement that someone is worth our time and attention and not the sound of change in the cash register. The greatest challenge of all is to seek out the opportunity that is before us and to seek truth, promote peace and reduce the footprint we are leaving other travelers not yet set foot on the path of life. Only when we decide as individuals to change our lifestyles and only when we decide as society to change the policies at the international, national and local levels can we begin to make a difference. We can no longer wait for others to make these changes for us, action starts from within. We must act now when we can look objectively at these issues when we can balance the trade-offs of energy, environment and justice and not later when the stakes are higher.
You ask "what can I do, the problems are too big?" and I suggest that the answer is not as difficult as you might imagine. Simple acts such as bicycling, driving less, eating locally produced food, voting with your dollar, using less energy, getting involved with your community and questioning your assumptions all require very little effort on our part. Progress and not perfection should be our goal. The vastness of the world's problems do not invalidate responsibility on a personal level. What we need now is leadership from within. We can no longer wait for others to do it. Time may be our scarcest resource of all.
It is critical that we ourselves become the models of the kinds of lifestyles needed. The younger generation is inheriting a world much different the one our parents inherited from theirs. We are inheriting a world of declining resources and ecological demise so we must accept that we will not live lives like our parents, lives of material abundance, luxury, comfort and waste. One not based on consuming increasing amounts of resources. And how we respond to these challenges will not only determine the fate of future generations but the fate of human species itself. How we respond will determine both the amounts and the kinds of resources future generations will have. How we responds will determine the kinds of environment they live in and what kind of lives they lead.
This holiday season I challenge each of you to reconsider our current path as a society and choose another that will lead to a habitable, sustainable and healthy world. In face of the tremendous challenges before us there is much reason for hope. Now is the time for personal accountability. Start small and keep working at it, spread the word, challenge antiquated assumptions and always look to future generations. Enjoy family and friends this holiday and think about what it is deepest down inside that gives you happiness in life and embrace it. I guarantee you that it doesn't come from Wal-Mart. Amidst dire predictions, forecasts and statistics we must not despair for despair leads to apathy and inaction. Remember that there is always hope because it is not possible to know what is possible.

I wish you a happy holiday season and a jolly new year,

D-Truck