Most in the white West are not raised to expect seriousness. A carefree lifestyle is that of privilege. Individuals, of course, suffer hardships from disease, domestic or social violence. Some from poverty despite color. Some from disabling, intimate betrayals. But generally, life is not expected to be a tragedy. Yet the world has become serious, and none are excused or exempt.
The world-in-peril is an outcry for response. The world-as-reality is in need of mending. Healing equates with change. Will cruelty or indifference prove our species fatal flaw? Will ignorance prove our fatal folly?
The world clock is counting down against war and climate crisis. How do we get over ourselves to be responsible in time? Identity and world direction turn on the answers to this question.
David Sparenberg is author of CONFRONTING the CRISIS: Essays & Meditations On Eco Spirituality in the Earth Spirit Series. An international essayist and eco-poet, David lives in Seattle, WA in the Pacific Northwest, USA.
