Thursday, November 08, 2007

Love your mother


Editor's Note: Commedienne Pam Stone writes her column for The Tryon Daily Bulletin twice each month from her office in the "Unabomber Shack" on her Gowensville farm. Want a chance to respond to this column?
Go to Pam’s blog at www.tryondailybulletin.com.

I write this as I look at a report from The Atlanta Journal which warns that “Atlanta Has Less Than 81 days of Water Left.”
Whew.
Video reports from nearly all southeastern lakes show several feet of red clay shore, boats, once floating and tethered, now lying on their sides in the mud. It’s a frightening time. Here in the Tryon and Landrum area, we certainly know first hand how bad it’s been. Those of us with livestock fret over the availability of hay and the fear that wells are drying up. “How sad is it,” my co-host, Ramona Holloway, remarked on our new radio show we are presenting on Sundays, “that I have to wait until an actual watering ban is implemented before it occurs to me to conserve water?”
How very, very true. During a normal summer, tucked safely into the pattern of rainy systems sucking up moisture from the Gulf and sweeping through every four or five days, I don’t think twice about watering my dressage arena. I leave the tap running as I brush my teeth. And when I fill the horses’ water troughs, I’m ashamed to admit that I have forgotten to turn off the hose~ once even for the entire night! But the water table was high, our well is deep.......excuses are terribly convenient, aren’t they?
One of the most inspiring sermons I ever heard Father Doty, our rector at Holy Cross, preach, was in regard to stewardship to the Earth. I cannot quote his text but of what I remember, he explained that when people hear the phrase that “Man was given Dominion over the Earth,” there is the tendency to understand that the word “dominion” has an aggressive feel to it. When we “dominate” someone or something, we think of putting it under our thumb. We rule it! We do whatever we want.
However, Father Doty informed us that the word “dominate” has its roots in divinity and stems from the word, “Dom,” which, in its Latin translation, means, “Deo Optimo Maximo: To the Best and Greatest God.” Keeping that in mind, if we then are given the Earth “To the Best and Greatest God” then how dare we foul it? How dare we take its precious resources without a thought of conserving? As a struggling Christian, I believe that Christ was very clear in that we are expected to serve each other and, of course, Him. His expression of serving was overwhelming.
How then can we, given “dominion” over His gift, not have a natural affinity to serve it? If we are given a thoughtful, lovely gift, should we simply rip off the wrapping paper, say, “Oh, yeah, thanks,” and then proceed to destroy it?
On our radio show, our third host, Sharon Decker, a lay minister, gave wonderful tips on how to conserve water: if you buy bottled water, don’t throw it away with water still in it – use that to water your plants then recycle the bottle. Keep a bucket in your shower and let the excess water fall into it also be useful in watering plants, even flushing your toilet!
Turn that tap off when brushing your teeth. Using your dishwater actually uses less water than washing by hand, but only if the machine is completely full....
There’s countless other things to do that I believe we have a moral obligation to undertake: recycling, driving fuel efficient cars, planting trees. Especially if you live in the country.
So many of us have moved to this slice of heaven in the desire of living closer to nature and breathing clean air. How then dare we to methodically and carelessly destroy and greedily remove its resources?
Shame on us for waiting to be told.

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