Beautiful iris. Soon this photograph will be all that is left. Some might say the same of the Earth itself. That because nothing lasts, we shouldn’t care that much if fracking has become a worldwide activity, or species extinction is happening at an alarmingly fast pace these days, or that the rainforests where many of these disappearing species live are also disappearing, being shredded for profit. It’s all inevitable, some say.
Greed and utilitarianism seem to compete on a moment by moment basis with the recognition that the poisoned water is us. That the murdered pelicans are us. That the oil soaked land cannot possibly be separated from the marrow in our bones.
Modern civilization seems to be in the business of manufacturing impermanence. We create purposely defective products. We kill far, far more than we need to sustain ourselves. In the name of security, we blow up and poison everyone and everything in sight that is deemed a “threat.” In this worldview, dandelions are terrorists. Children murdered in warzones are collateral damage. Endless hours and dollars are expended on creating technology whose sole purpose is to kill, eliminate, obliterate.
It’s time for a change in direction. To slow down the endless economic growth machine. To break free of our dependence on fossil fuels. To aim impermanence in the direction of all the things that so effectively kill and lessen life.
Even though the flowers always pass, we don’t need to speed up that passing. The Iris is us. Let’s live for as long as we’re meant to.
Photo Credit:
Iris © Nathan Thompson. All rights reserved.
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