Our Wake Up Call
Sally Fell
Our Wake Up Call
Sally Fell
It is a Wake-Up Call … to
rise, and arouse us to action.
How easy is it to reach over and
turn off the Alarm? So many would
prefer to slumber, attend to
their own well-being … not thinking,
not realizing … the Alarm
is doing precisely that. Its
Silence, though, allows individuals
to rest
under covers of
neglect, … even as the cause for Alarm is now
visible, and palpable…. It touches
us. Ever so boldly, urging our Awakening …
as if our lives depended on our
response. Visible, palpable –
grabbing us, imploring us, ever-more vehemently,
Wake Up! Fire tornadoes, atmospheric rivers – new terms to describe
new threats. Reservoirs, rivers, dangerously low. Temperatures climb, intensifying, accelerating change…. How can we hide under covers … when there is no
blanket protection from this? Cycles of extreme violence … of weather events …
of people. Floods like never before, winds damaging homes, downing power lines,
currents of water streaming down mountains to create mudslides,
devastating property, threatening lives. The air is filled with
greenhouse gasses, and other toxic chemicals. Our health is being
affected … with so many people upset, angry, and depressed, feeling anxious, helpless. The air is being polluted … by disinformation, toxic to our wellbeing …
killing lives needlessly … destroying our democracy. Wake Up!! If we don’t
wake up, nothing will happen … as the danger to our lives and livelihoods increases,
and the ever-thickening blanket … of greenhouse gasses, and noxious propaganda, trapping heat, poses a profound existential threat. Wake Up!! We need to act! We
need to come together as if our lives depended upon it; we need to work
together before the blanket becomes too heavy a lift – to recognize and preserve
the sanctity of a Great Trust … in each other, in what we are capable of achieving together … in our democracy and Constitution, and in Life, itself. We need to act to restore Nature’s balance, and with it, our ideals, and climate of wellbeing.
Earning a BA in Piano Performance from Oberlin College, and MS in Human Services-Counseling at National-Louis University, has given me insight into the inner music of our hearts and minds. Today we face a crisis in their regard: The ordered harmony in Nature, our own inner nature, included, is now imperiled. The climate we all face – of intensifying extremes in politics and the weather – presents an existential threat to democracy and life, as we know it. Our response must affirm both.