Not long ago, that fiercely brilliant & passionate environmental philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore asked us this question:
“What will be our legacy for those who have no voice to shape their own destinies–what chance of gladness, what landscapes of enduring, bedrock value?”
My complement to that–if anyone can be as eloquent as Kathy can be–is that to speak on behalf of the bedrock and glad-hearted who cannot speak, we still must listen to the depth of their beings before we speak at all.
We cannot be good proxy voters on their behalf if we don’t deeply know who they are and what they have “lived through.” And we can best do that if we live and breathe in their presence, not just assume what their value is from distant approximations.
To help them be restored to their proper places in our world, we must keenly remember them, making them part of ourselves and vice-versa…
-Brother Coyote