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| The Rock Garden, RBG, 2011. Copyright Heather Vallance |
Yesterday’s storm bounced off the Escarpment and reached me at a speed I can only compare with that of a cheetah in full stride. I barely had time to hit the off button on the computer and retreat from my chair beside the window. Only weeks before, I had sat in that same chair during a dry windstorm which downed trees and stripped homes all the way to Fort Erie.
Yesterday’s news told of more wildfires and snow in Hawaii. Violent, unpredictable weather increases with each year, but we never fully accept why.
The Earth is angry, and who can blame her?
I often wonder if Earth showed up as a neighbor - a woman of a certain age named Gaia who entertained her biker friends to Sunday BBQs - if she would be as disrespected as she is as a concept.
Probably. In our world, women of a certain age are as disrespected as the Earth herself.
This is why Gaia has biker friends.
As her neighbor we would learn quickly. Throw garbage onto her front lawn and we’d get a visit, perhaps get roughed up a bit on Sunday as a distraction while the meat was cooking.
Drop an oil well in Gaia’s TV room or cut away a bit of her rockery for a better view of the city, and wham! The bikers would bring out the artillery, because they will do anything to protect the woman who feeds them, listens to their little ego stories, patches up their wounds. That’s what friendship is, and that is why you often see such mismatched people enjoying each other’s company.
If Gaia was a woman with biker friends we would understand the chain of consequences associated with bullying her because we feel superior.
In truth, Gaia is an insignificantly sized blue ball at the forgotten end of a galaxy arm which jostles for space among untold millions of other orbiting masses - putting a whole new meaning on the term cyber bullying.
And the Earth does have biker friends ...
