2023-11-03
But why are we so intent on despoiling that gift?
By Bobby Bostic. Author, prison & social reform activist/advocate based in St Louis, Missouri, USA
"All these wars going on killing our sons and daughters so we hold vigils to grieve
Global warming smothering the air so I can’t breathe
You tear gas us but we just wipe away the tears with our sleeve
Freedom of Assembly yet our constitutional rights get violated with no reprieve”
- Excerpt from “Mental Jewelry: Wear It On Your Brain”
If someone gave you a gift and told you that this gift would keep you alive - would you abuse this gift? If your answer to this question is no, then ask yourself why do we human beings abuse this earth which has been giving to us as a gift? Is it that we don’t care or are we unconscious of what we are doing? Why is it that we are so careless about it? Will we continue to put profit over life? What about the next generation’s future, as well as the generations to come after them?
This Earth is all of ours to preserve. This is all that we got. We each must do more to stop global warming.
What about the urgency of now? How long do we keep polluting the air?
Just like tomorrow, this world isn’t a given. So I ask all of us again: what do we do with this gift that we’ve been given?
Just ponder on that question. None of us individually has all the solutions. But together we can and must come together to save this planet. These words are coming from me, a man who was sentenced to die in prison for robbery at 16 years old [unjustly sentenced 241 years for a crime that caused no injury]. I spent 27 years in a prison cell watching the world from afar. I read about it, I studied the statistics, facts and theories of global warming. I know that we need to do more to stop it.
We must take care of that earth y’all and from that action our future generations will continue to rise. Let us take better care of our gift.
References
Bostic, B. Humbled to the Dust: Still I Rise. 2023
Bostic, B. Mental Jewelry: Wear It On Your Brain, 2020
Bobby's Website (minddiamonds.net)
Header photo: Image of Earth Day protest. Credit: https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/earth-day By Bryan R. Smith / AFP Via Getty Images
[Opinions expressed are those of the author and not official policy of Greens WA]