Heroes Not Zombies

What do you see in this photo?

I see the sun, clouds and trees.

I love this photo simply for its beauty. The sun looks huge, the sky is so intensely red, and the silhouettes of the trees are like a puppet shadow play.

But when I look at it again now I see the fundamental essentials of Life. Without the energy from the sun there would be no life on Earth. With too much energy from the sun there would be no Life on Earth. Without water (here in the form of clouds) there would be no Life on Earth, without vegetation (here in the form of trees) there would be no animals, no insects, no humans here on Earth. Because we need the chlorophyll containing forms of life to capture energy from the sun, water and carbon dioxide from the air, and turn that into the basic sugars of the food chain.

This makes me feel intensely grateful. This fills me with awe. Every single one of these very non-human elements are essential for existence.

Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that wonderful? Shouldn’t that determine our priorities when we construct the ways we live together on this small blue planet?