Stop. Don't move. Where are you? What are you breathing into your body? What is your skin touching? Odds are, since you are no doubt reading this blog on a computer, you currently have your fingers touching either a plastic keyboard, a plastic mouse, a formica desk, or a cardboard container holding a Grande Triple Decaf Soy Caramel Macchiato (hold the whip) at Starbucks. No, really. Stop for a second and think about what your body is coming into contact with. And since we do live on a planet with gravity, there is ALWAYS a part of you touching something. Are the dyes used on the keys non-toxic? How about the keys themselves? They are obviously a man-made material that one would not find in a natural setting.
How about the clothes you are wearing? They are also touching your skin, 24 hours a day (unless you sleep in the nude, in which case you are still in contact with your sheets ;). What are they made of? We generally feel comforted in knowing that we are wearing cotton - a natural plant that has been used for centuries to clothe people. Most of us do not understand, however, that in the agricultural process of growing cotton, tons and tons of pesticides are applied throughout the world to maintain "healthy" crops - free from mettlesome insects and other potential dangers. So much pesticides and insecticides are applied, in fact, that the outfit you are wearing at the moment likely had over 40 teaspoons of chemicals applied to the cotton during it's growth. And that is what we ALL wear, day in and day out - since the birth of the industrial age.
Why does this all matter? Because we are animals. It's something that we often forget in modern America. How can anyone blaim us? I mean, how can we truly be connected with our natural selves when all that surrounds us is unnatural? Touching metals and plastics, viewing glowing screens, eating magically over-processed foods - all these things contribute to an altered sense of what we really are.
True, the indusrial age and modern science have combined to bring us so many incredible things. But as with everything else in our world, when profits and losses get factored in, compromises in integrity occur far too often. Unfair labor wages and conditions, lower quality materials and questionable environmental practices are not only common, they are prevalent in our society. And not just environmental hazards such as dumping chemicals into rivers - which is something anyone would object to. But common everyday hazards found in our everyday purchases. The clothes we wear, the foods we eat and the air we breathe - all these things are potential risks for us all, because so often, carcinogens are unnecessarily added to them.
As animals, we are very trusting of one another. There is a common belief that the things we buy are safe for us, and that there was no suffering by other animals (and humans) in it's manufacturing. And it is this blind belief that keeps things moving along status quo.
Hopefully our animal instincts and incredible brain power will lead us into a new age of clarity, compassion and understanding. And may you lead the way.
