I steady myself for the roller coaster ride …

we are already on. Its safety is

less than assured. A different kind of

forced amusement … caused by inaction

and neglect … seems to have installed

real peril … as we brace ourselves

for ups and downs, higher and lower

and more frequent than ever before.

I grip the bar in front of me,

amazed, in horror, for what, in turn,

our current track now takes us through – droughts,

extending months; inextinguishable, intense fires;

record-breaking storms with hurricane-force winds; floods

that sweep away cars, homes, even towns, devastating lives.

I start to feel dizzy, disoriented, want to get off. But

there is no getting off, no getting away from the fact

that our current track takes us through real terror … posing

an existential threat. Gripped by a jolting sense, I clench the

bar in front of me, meant to secure me in place, as

the track takes us slowly up, … nearly straight up, it feels, till

barely inching forward, we are reaching some sort of summit,

or peak. I glimpse down horrified

by how far we have come, and where the track is about to plunge –

straight down, into a free fall. For one prolonged pause …

remembering the beauty, and welcome acceptance Nature had always extended – eying the peril already experienced, long-predicted – I think, it did not have to be this way. Repairs could have been installed long ago, but denial, neglect, obfuscation,

even short-sightedness and corruption, misguidedly gauging “profitability,”

impacted the track we are on … that truly threatens the existence of life

on Earth. Will we wait until it is too late to act? What will be

the cost? … Will we worry about “affordability” when the consequences of our inaction promise to be catastrophic? … I

would like to get off, see children have the same opportunities as I … to

run, play, ride bikes, jump into piles of leaves, raked, swing on swings, and be

joyful, feel a sense of exuberance and love of Nature, of Life. … Unless we act very swiftly, boldly, to alter the track we are on, I consider – feeling the protective bar

loosening … as we are about to plunge, free fall, into descent – children, already

borne into this once-in-a-lifetime experience … may not live that life, may not survive … what now seems as far from an amusement

as we can get. This ride of a lifetime … now taking us through

earth-shattering, record temperatures, and catastrophic

climate disasters, threatens everything we value – our families,

our health, our freedom, our democracy – everything we hold treasured,

cherished. Before the bar gives way, before descent into a free fall down

this path, it is time to invest our everything toward a Cause so Great

it will test our ability to believe

in each other enough to come together, and apply all our knowledge,

skill, and strength to preserve our planet’s

Life-promoting Nature … and our own.