Kinship in an ‘us or them’ world

For those of us tipped towards the natural world, this is a challenging time. How do we make sense? What do we do? For years, we have likely taken comfort in how much we are like the rest of the natural world, part of an ecosystem. There was always an encouraging echo we could find in Emerson, Thoreau, Darwin, Olmsted, Rachael Carson, Bill McKibben, Andy Fisher, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and usually someone in politics to support a degree of hope and even enthusiasm: Al Gore, Lindsay Graham, Richard Nixon (yes, look it up!), Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson.

But we may now be at a reckoning, when what we thought were bedrock truths about nature, human nature and cooperation are showing to be frail, dear fictions. On that highly visible national political stage, the recurring theme seems like a Whack-a-Mole view of reality. It’s us or them, Hatfields versus McCoys. It’s a different understand – harkening back to an old view – of nature and humanity as mortal competition.

What are the nature wanderers and explorers to do? How to respond to those who only see enemies, war, battlefields? What we have learned in nature might help in this time. Let’s find ways to witness and practice another storyline. One about “kin,” meadow, seasons, patience, curiosity, slowness. In general, keep the idea of care in mind as we find non-competitive ways to interact. The specifics are embarrassingly modest and casual. Maybe a neighborhood potluck, maybe spend a half-hour picking up litter on a public road.