We have just travelled through thanksgiving and what a thanksgiving it was!! The vibrant colours of Fall can be seen all around us and one cannot help but filled with awe and wonder at this amazing creation! We are indeed blessed!
I am always taken back when I think about how intricately woven the web of life is and how all things
– plants, animals, people – are dependent upon one another.
I am reminded of the responsibility that has been
entrusted to us as human beings to tend and care for everything.
It is against this backdrop of thought that I read an article written by my niece who is part of the indigenous peoples of Labrador. With her permission, I share that with you now:
Imagine, By Jennifer-Rose Campbell
I want you to close your eyes and imagine…
Imagine that your backyard is full of the wonders of nature.
That there are trails that your parents and grandparents used, places they called home.
That this beautiful back yard could provides all the necessities of life for you and your loved ones.Imagine that you have access to food that makes you feel whole and healthy.
Food that feeds your soul just as much as it does your stomach and you are able to share that with your children.
Imagine that these connections to the land and what it provides run deep and that the land holds a huge piece of your heart….Imagine that someone came in a ripped apart your back yard.
Tore up the grounds your grandparents called home.
Extracted everything they could from it and destroyed the habitats of all the animals.
Imagine that the same person directly poisoned your wholesome food, knew they were doing it, but continued to do so anyway.Imagine that your heart is broken.
Imagine that, on top of all that, this person tells you that you won’t benefit in the slightest from any of it.
That all of the harm he’s doing is for his own gain, and for the gain of people from far away places that you don’t even know.
That all the destruction and the poison and the hurt has the potential to bring more devastation.
Imagine he tells you that as a direct result of this nightmare you could also lose your homes, possibly your lives, due to lack of infrastructure stability…
infrastructure they are building in your back yard…
the reason they broke your heart in the first place.Now what if you opened your eyes and realized
it wasn’t just your imagination..
Jenni wrote this as she and others set out to protest the Muskrat Falls development and, in particular, the flooding.
If you check out the website that gives an over view of the project you will find these words:
Once the generating facility is in operation, Muskrat Falls will mean:
Long-term stable electricity rates for generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians
An end to dependence on oil and unstable electricity prices
Energy for future industrial development in the province
A link to North America’s electricity grid for exports
Clean, renewable power – 98% sustainable energy
What you Do Not See
What you Do Not See on this site is what harm will happen to the land and the people in the process of building this development. The creation that was entrusted to us will be destroyed and once again, we will also destroy the home land and the way of life of some of the indigenous people of this country. The flooding required for this development will send mercury poisoning throughout the land affecting people, plants and animals.
In our sacred story we read these words:
Ezekiel 34:18
“Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet?”
Job 12:7-10
“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In God’s hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all humanity.”
Unite Our Voices with the Voices of the Indigenous People
As a people of faith we are called to care for creation and yet, how many times have we disregarded this privilege and destroyed the very thing that brings us life? The answer is, of course TOO OFTEN!! In recent years we have heard continually about the harm that we have caused by the chemicals that we have sent into the atmosphere, how our actions have brought certain species of plants and animals to extinction or the brink of extinction, and how all of this will continue to damage our world for years to come. We have been warned by environmentalists and scientists that our actions, unless changed, will lead to the destruction of our planet. And yet we do not listen, and we cannot see!!
My prayer is that we will unite our voices with the voices of the indigenous people of this land to demand justice for all creation and to preserve and nourish that which brings us life. We have the power to pass on to our children and grandchildren and generations yet to be born a place filled with beauty. May it be so.
Blessings
Valerie
© 2016 Rev. Valerie Peyton Kingsbury. All rights reserved.