Heroes Not Zombies

I want to celebrate caring.

I’ve read a fair bit of research into the lives of trees recently, the most recent being Suzanne Simard’s excellent “Finding the Mother Tree”. It seems that far from seeing trees as separate individuals in constant competition with each other for sunlight and nutrients, that reality is more complex, because trees are in fact in constant communication with each other – primarily through the wood wide web of fungal networks in the soil, but also through chemical signals sent through the air.

It turns out that trees are not as separate as we thought. And it turns out that caring for each other is essential to their health and survival.

And aren’t those the exact lessons we are learning from this pandemic?

We are not separate. My actions have consequences for you and vice versa. Political borders are irrelevant to viruses. We live in one vast interconnected planet. What happens in one community has consequences for other communities.

The most impressive thing to witness in this pandemic has been the spontaneous actions of caring individuals – millions of them – from “front line workers” to “neighbours” to professionals collaborating to find tools and solutions.

And the other side of that coin is the pandemic has hit hardest those in society who have been least cared for – the poor, the frail and the marginalised.

That lack of care has made us all more vulnerable.

So let’s counter the dominant belief system that we are all separate and that competition and greed will be good for us all. And say let’s try something else. Let’s put caring at the heart of what we do.