Imagine 8, Me at 100

Gather around grand-children, I'd like to tell you a story.

Many years ago, when I was your age, the world was very different. We used to think that man and our environment were separate. We glorified mankind, thinking we were chosen by God to hold dominion over the earth. We were right on one count. We dominated the planet.

But in so doing, much was lost. We forgot our heritage, we lost connection with our ancestors. We worshipped technology and ourselves, instead of expressing gratitude for our heritage and for the gift of God's creation. That loss of connection almost cost us everything.

We trashed Mother Earth. We filled the oceans with garbage, we filled the valleys with garbage, we sprayed our crops with poisons, and we blew up ancient mountains.

We thought we were so smart. We thought we were so powerful. We were, but powerful like a rebellious toddler breaking his toys and throwing his food onto the floor, smart like the sting of a fire ant between your toes.

Fortunately, we started to wake up. Around 70 years ago, indigenous people around the world started speaking up. The food wasn't nourishing us, the medicines weren't curing us, and the economy wasn't fulfilling us. We looked to the grandparents, and even though there were few left, they were happy to share what knowledge remained.

Thousands of young people around the world started doc**enting this ancient wisdom, sharing that knowledge over the internet and planting living seed banks in gratitude to their elders. As the old forms of energy, money, and water started running out, and the systems dependent on them started to crumble, people scrambled for a solution.

And all that time, it was right there under our feet.

Plants saved us. Our grandparents saved us. The global economy couldn't feed us anymore, fossil fuels couldn't power us. But plants, using the energy of the sun, could still nourish us, purify the air and the water, and provide abundant fuel.

Not everyone awoke, not everyone adopted the new system. But those who failed to were so obvious in their destructive ways, in their unhealthy attitudes and physical form, that their message of waste and exploitation no longer resonated with people. Gradually, town by town, country by country, the people of the world rededicated themselves to a healing, nurturing relationship with the earth.

So don't forget children, that even though you were created in God's image and are his children, so too are all the trees in the forest, the fish in the sea, and the animals that walk and crawl on the earth. We are all in this together, don't forget...