In the early 90’s, I lived in San Diego for 3 years of clear blue skies and sunny days.  For the first few weeks, and after that every time I took a walk on a beach, I was transported with wonder that I got to live in such a beautiful place.  Nearly every day the sun shined, the sky was blue, the weather- perfect.  After several months I made friends with a woman from Boston.  One day we were talking about the incessant good weather.  She had been there several years, and bemoaned the lack of rainy days, something she had grown up with.  It did get a little relentless to hardly ever have a gray, overcast, moody kind of day.

Fast forward 3 years, and I felt parched.  I missed GA, my friends and family, so I came back for a visit.  When I stepped off the plane that night in May, my skin drank in the warm moisture in the air.  I could feel myself filling back up, and a couple of months later I tied up loose ends and moved back here for good.

The purpose of this little story is: I have seen weather before like we are having now, and having it here in Blairsville freaks me out.  Hot, dry, sunny weather belongs elsewhere, in the desert.  Our mountainsides are full of trees parched and burned by drought.  Their green leaves are our lifeline, creating the oxygen we require. Where are we going to get our oxygen if the trees are gone, or too parched to help us?   We cut them down like we own them, and with no thought to our dependence on them, so we can plant lawns, or flatten more land to develop and sell.

Anyone who doesn’t believe in the reality of climate change by now is either listening to Rush or hasn’t gone outside much, or both.  I got a letter from our esteemed representative Saxby Chambliss the other day.  He’s not too sold on global warming, either.  He supports “voluntary reductions in greenhouse gases” (like that’s ever worked) and the “implementation of a national technology-based emission reduction strategy.”  Hmmm, that should take about 10 years in committee to talk through!   He believes lots of other things with no teeth to them.  If global warming is the fact that the majority of the world’s scientists (the ones not on the Exxon-Mobil handout program) believe it is, what is it going to take to get our current government to quit thinking about their oil profits and their kickbacks and do their job?

Last week I wrote about the FDA’s move to take over natural health products under the guise of protecting us from dangerous herbs. I just got an email we were successful, for this time!  Now we have our government pandering to big business, especially oil, at the risk of endangering our planet.  If you believe you’ll soon be leaving this earthly plane, maybe this is good news to you.  Or if you plan to go to that new planet with a possibility of water on it, that might work in a few years, too.

For me, I dream of staying right here on Planet Earth, with a few improvements.  I prefer an enlightened government that actually takes care of its people instead of thinking up ways to profit from them.  My government protects us from foods full of chemicals that can harm us.  My government is full of truth tellers and wise people of vision.  All people are treated with respect, whether they are rich or poor.

 I envision art and music taught in schools again, organic farms and gardens, a healthy population eating beautiful natural food, pure air to breathe and pure water to drink.  In my world, we are healthy, calm, loving and supportive of one another.  We honor the precious gift of this Earth and take care of what we have.

If you have a similar dream, we can make it a reality, but it’s going to take every single one of us.

How do we do it?  The old saying “Peace begins with me,” is a good start.  Take care of yourself.  Recycle.  (We take our glass and plastics 3-7 to Jasper!)  Eat well.  Buy organic food at the local farmer’s markets.  Drink good water.  Drive sanely.  Please don’t tailgate, ever, and please do use your blinkers so the rest of us know what you’ve got planned.  Be considerate.  Smile.  Get massages (yay!) to feel good and stay in touch with yourself.  Put down your cell phone whenever possible, and turn off your TV.  Get out in Nature, walk, sit under a tree for an hour and see what happens.  Be grateful for all we have been given, and do everything you know to protect it for our children’s children’s children.

This morning I went to church, which you know from the title, to hear an old friend give what Unity calls the Message, what we used to call the Sermon.  He told a story about a woman who nearly caused him to have an accident by pulling in front of him so he had to jam on his brakes or hit her or go off the road.  It got him upset enough that he followed her and when she got out of her car, told her he had to jam on his brakes to avoid hitting her.  Her response?  "Thank you."
His message was that he had wanted to make her feel guilty, that he was angry (and therefore by New Age definition, at fault) and that she "refused to buy in to it."
I was thinking as I drove along after Church, wouldn't it be nice, or appropriate, if she had said, "I'm sorry I was careless and thank you for telling me.  It's a good reminder for me to be more careful and pay attention when I'm driving."  She wouldn't have to say ALL that, but something, anything to indicate she was hearing that she was a danger on the road.
So I called my friend and told him what I thought, that it would have been lovely if perhaps she had taken responsibility ("I'm sorry...") instead of allowing him to take all the responsibility by thanking him, presumably for braking instead of hitting her.  After I finished the call, I came upon my first accident, a typical fender bender type collision where someone had slowed down to turn and the driver behind was paying attention to something other than driving.  Cars were already lining up behind them and my lane seemed for a minute or two, to drive more carefully.
Let me interject right here that yes, I was on a cell phone.  In my defense, his number is in my phone so I didn't have to search, and I kept my eyes on the road and there was, when I placed the call, almost no one else there.  But yeah, driving and talking can be dangerous and I try not to do it at all when I am in trafficky areas or especially in cities.  So I was talking, but also watching and no one was in front of me right then.
Then someone was tailgating me.  Not badly enough to make me nervous, like when one of those giant SUVs is hovering over the bumper of my little Honda, but definitely in a hurry, even though there was visible traffic ahead.  Finally they passed me, rushed along to the next group of vehicles and ran a motorcycle off the road, either hitting them outright or just crowding them down an embankment.
In New Age theology, being judgmental is among the worst errors we can commit.  There's a line between being judgmental, which feels gratuitous, and being responsible and aware of other people.  I don't have much personal judgment about the person who caused the accident, but I do know they were dangerous to other people on the road, which they proved.  I called 911 and reported it.  That was the most responsible (responding to the needs of the situation) I could be at the moment.