Can Lost Bees Help Us Find Our Way Home?
(Environmental Conciousness)


Today I watched some of the very few honeybees in my garden and found myself longing for a way I could just follow one for an entire day. I thought "I wonder if this is one of the lost bees?"

Just like this honeybee, I know how it feels to be lost. But even during the darkest of moments in my life, there has always been that soft, yet clear voice that has kept me awake and on that path toward where I belong. The bees work together toward a common goal and work hard to bring each bee back to the hive. But sometimes, not all the bees make it home, and lately, a lot haven't. This is why I am thinking about the lost bees. We have so much to learn from them.

Lately, I feel the Earth crying to merely be appreciated for all She gives. She is for me, very often, that soft, clearvoice that says "Hello, you. It's Me, remember? You've been asleep for a while, but it's time for you to wake up. You're safe and there are many here with you. We're all so glad you're here."

The journey I've been on has been one of awakening, and now it is a journey of helping others wake up. The honeybees are just a part of our awakening process. They are helping us open our eyes to see the many critically important changes that are going on right underneath our feet. Quietly, the honeybees are sacrificing their lives for ours, and it is my mission to make sure each one of their lives is not lost in vain.

Awake thou that sleepest, arise from your slumber. The honeybees are not the only ones looking for their way "home."


Oh, What Tangled Webs We Weave

(Environmental Conciousness)

All my life, Halloween has been one of my favorite holidays. I love everything about it...the dressing up, the laughter of the kids in search of treats, the crispness in the air and crunchy sounds the leaves make under our feet. But it wasn't until a month ago that Halloween took on a whole new meaning for me.

A month or so ago, a rather large spider decided to make her home our outside porch light that's right outside our front door. The first time I noticed the spider was one night when I was walking my brother out to his car. We were standing at the porch, you know, just saying a few last words to each other for the evening when we both noticed something out of the corner of our eyes. We turned and looked only to witness this spider catch a fly and immediately spin it into a cocoon. We both just stood there, silent in our amazement until the spider retreated back to "her spot" underneath the porch light. I said to my brother, "Now that's not something you see everyday." We both laughed. He went into his car and I went inside and tried to think nothing of it. Well, for days this spider's webs grew bigger and bigger and bigger. Every day I would wonder what tasty morsels she had caught for herself. My witty daughter remarked that we wouldn't have to decorate for Halloween this year. At this point, it was all fun and games.

One night, as I walked up the stairs toward my front door, I passed through an entire web she had spun from the far right end of our front door to the far left of our porch. This was the moment I knew it had gone too far. I had visions of one of my daughters walking through one of her giant webs upon which she would dart out and bite her. I knew things had reached the point that something needed to be done.

The lightbulb in our front porch lantern had burned out two weeks ago, so it was pitch darkness the night I decided "to do something about things." Even though I knew exactly where she perched herself, it was total blackness. The kids were squealing and crying "Mommy, I'm afraid! Don't hurt the spider! Don't get bit by the spider, either!" (how's that
for priorities, eh?) I assured them no one was going to get hurt. To my astonishment, when I opened the door, the spider was hanging in the middle of one of her webs, almost right in front of the door as if she were just stopping by for a visit. I asked my daughter to bring me a paper plate and clear glass. Gently, I scooped her up into the glass and covered her with the paper plate. She was so beautiful, covered in tones of browns, golds and soft yellows. She pretended to be dead once in the cup, but soon she started to move. I told my girls, "I'm not going to kill this spider...I'm just giving her a new home." My eyes scanned my yard looking for just the right place for her. I settled on a large juniper bush that is rich with crevasses and caverns deep inside its protective green covering. She was free.

Thinking the hard part was done, I triumphantly headed back to my front porch, at which point the first thing I did was change the lightbulb. That's when I saw just how many webs she had actually woven. Then I got out the hand-held vacuum cleaner ready to take care of business, when suddenly, I stopped and just broke down into tears. All I could think of as I looked at all her webs was all of this spider's hard work and how she must have been preparing her "home" for long winter nights. There was nothing anyone could say to me that could stop the sadness that was washing over me at that moment. I knew it was just a spider. I knew it might have been poisonous. My brain knew all of this. But none of that mattered as I was about to suck the hard work of one of God's creatures into a vacuum. I cried the entire time I was cleaning away the webs, like it was just dirt, pondering all the dead creatures that were in them, and realizing they were now caught in vain. My kids came out and asked why I was crying? They asked if the spider had accidentally gotten killed. "No," I told them. "Our spider is doing just fine. Just don't go too near the juniper bush, OK?"

I always am amazed at the things that pull at our heartstrings when we least expect it. This Halloween I will be thinking of my special spider and the beautiful webs she weaved right in front of our door. I didn't clean away all of her webs, especially the ones she wove around our angel statue. This spider was a Charlotte kind of spider, and in the spirit of the coming holiday, I just thought this was a good time to tell you the way we met this spider... how she touched our lives...and how we said good-bye. We will always think of her every time we walk in and out our front door. We will miss her.

Dianne Perea

Does The Earth
Have a Soul?"
(Environmental Conciousness)

I watched a program this weekend called "How the Earth Was Made", a two-hour long program that did an excellent job of explaining the age of the Earth and how it is we are now able to tell the story about what happened to the Earth over the past 4.5 billion years. In 4.5 billion years, the Earth has gone from a hot ball of fire that was relentlessly bombarded by space meteors, to a water world, then to a ball of ice, then to a lush greenhouse, then back to ice, until finally the world that it is today. I know this is way oversimplifying, but I am trying to hold your attention in order to get to my real points.

Earth as undergone cataclysmic changes
for BILLIONS of years in order to create perfect environmental conditions today hat make it possible for us humans to be here. If the Earth were a person, it would be around 65-70 years old, for in about 2 billion more years, the Earth will be a dead planet, a planet very much resembling Mars. 

Tree of Life                             
In 2 billion years, all of Earth's resources will be gone and this lush, beautiful, blue planet that we live on, a planet that is teeming with life, vibrancy and color, will be a lifeless and colorless ball in space. At the end of the show, there I sat with my eyes fixed on the screen hearing the words in my mind over and over and over again "The Earth will die...the Earth will die?...the Earth will die." I was just completely numbed inside by that statement. Everything dies eventually, so why would this come as such a shock to me? That is why I am writing.

There is only one thing harder to ponder than our own mortality and that is our reason for existence. Humans talk to each other about living in the moment, embracing every single day of our lives. We also believe that humans have eternal souls, and that our souls never die, so death is not something we fear, a fact which is a comfort to us all. But what about our planet? Does our planet Earth, the planet that hosts each and every one of our fragile and miraculous lives, have a kind of soul or consciousness?

I admit that I am a tree hugger, and I guess I am going to have to add to that list Earth hugger, for I am today profoundly saddened and disturbed at this realization that the Earth will just die one day, this planet which has provided the life source for billions upon trillions of living organisms for billions of years. We talk about the Earth being our "Mother" for Earth is the ultimate life giver. But Earth can, like all of us, only live for so long, and she too will come to the end of her days.

Two billion years seems like an infinite amount of time to us, almost incomprehensible, but to Earth, it is the last two years of her life. We will be long gone before Earth is in her final stages before death. Perhaps we will have by then discovered an Earth-like planet (Venus, maybe) that is ready to inhabit human life. It is nearly impossible to try and imagine what will be happening 2 billion years from now, so all we can do is be in our moment as presently as we can. However, being in our individual life moments is why we sometimes forget to rememberhow lucky we are to just be here, and how grateful we should be for every beautiful image we get to see every day, for every clean breath of air we take in, for every single second of living we get to live on this beautiful and generous planet who gives us everything and asks for nothing in return.


Please be good to the Earth, for she is the only reason any of us are here. Think of Earth in ways that maybe go outside your comfort zone. Think of Earth as a living entity who has a story to tell just like you and I do, and who one day may not have anyone to tell it anymore. Say a special pray for her, for she lives just as you and I do and she, like us, will one day die. Does Earth have a soul or a consciousness? I don't know. No one does. But it can't hurt to say one more prayer at the end of your day, can it?

Dianne Perea


California Fires Have My Mind In a State of Paralysis

 
I find myself at a strange loss for words these days. Ironically, my mind is overflowing with something I have been wanting to talk about on YourHub for some time now... the California fires...but I now realize it's simply too early and painful to write about the way I really want to. So my brain is in a kind of paralysis. Usually after a good night's sleep I wake up refreshed with a much clearer mental outlook, for the left and right brain have "talked in the night." But this hasn't been the case lately, which tells me the topic is too deep and painful, and sometimes my emotions are my brain are just unable to keep up with each other. When this happens, a kind of backlog occurs and this is when the part of my brain that normally has the freedom of creative expression gets is "called into service" to help the other part of my brain that must gain control of the upsetting thoughts are swirling around in there try to regain some kind of order.

It has always been and will be always be my intention, commitment and promise that whatever I write for YourHub will be sincere and truthful, no matter what, even if what I have to say doesn't seem all that exciting. More than anything, I am interested in maintaining genuine connections with my neighbors and local citizens, and a commitment to always telling the truth, two things that can only be done by just keeping it real and honest. So, here goes.

The fires in California and all those people who have lost everything as a result of these fires have me, well, freaked me. This event has stirring up a variety of thoughts in me that need to be sorted out, one of them being how fortunate we are to live in such a relatively protected area in the country. Watching what is happening to those people seems surreal and I just want to close my eyes and pretend it's not happening to them. Unfortunately, none of those people have that option. They must look at their new reality face to face and deal with the fact that they have lost everything except their lives and each other. The stories that are coming out of California are stories of real life heroes, of people helping one another cope with their tremendous loss, all with an attitude of positiveness, and gratidue. These stories have brought me to my knees with humility about my own life and an examination about the petty things I complain about, for what I am seeing in these people epitomizes true human heroic behavior and strength. "They are just things," these families say. "At least we have each other." They don't care about the World Series. They don't care about anything except staying alive, staying together and starting over. It I guess this is just makes me truly wonder what kind of strength I would have to deal with this kind of situation.

Colorado is know stranger to fires --we know first hand what kind of damage fire can do to us, yet we must never take our safety for granted. We had our Hayman fires a couple of years ago that did plenty of damage to our state, but in comparison, this was nothing to what is happening to these families in California. I guess more than anything I feel there are lessons in here for us all to never take our safety for granted, especially when it comes to the brutal and merciless affects of fire. We are surrounded by state parks that are currently littered with dead trees so, given the "right" conditions, there are parts Colorado that could be set ablaze tomorrow. Do Coloradoan's know what an evacuation plan looks like? Would we be know what to do if a situation like the one in California were to happen to us? This is what's on my mind right now, combined with the feeling of helplessness and grief from watching these families pick up the rubble from their decimated homes and lives as I sit here, safe and sound from my own home. It's a sickening feeling, really. In a nutshell, I just don't feel worthy and I wish there was more I could do other than just feel sad for them as the country watches these flames jump highways, ready to destroy the lives of the next victims that can only sit and wait for the impending catastrophe upon their lives.

Sometimes, when we are in the midst of a natural tragedy, all we can do is hold hands and pray for the strength to get through it alive. That, I guess, is what this story is all about. I have no poetic or thought-provoking themes other than to say my heart is troubled and I'm praying for the people who are going through an experience I can't even imagine how difficult and sad it must be for them. I believe deeply in the power of thought...not just prayer...but positive thought. I am sending my thought, my soul light, giving all my thoughts to these people I don't know, but I do know who need as much positive, light source coming their way, and I guess this is why I feel a sense of emptiness right now..

Tragedies do one thing best: they pull us together and make us realize that the only thing truly worth saving is another human life. But there is a lot of pain, grief and sorrow that goes along with that lesson and awareness. I would just like to use this opportunity to look around our lives, say a prayer of gratitude for all that we have, be happy that we live in this sheltered, beautiful and relatively safe city, and simply send our inner light, love and strength to the un-named people in California who are going through one of the hardest lessons a human can learn.