10. Just like a Tree

Nature :: Spirit — Kinship in a living world

Watch how a seed pops into life—always a miracle! If we want to grow a healthy tree, we try to remove all obstacles to the life force. But if human beings lack resources for growing, people often take a different view—that people are to blame for their own poverty. It’s a jaundiced view of human nature that sees us as different from all other beings. Where did this negative view arise? We make a brief sweep through the history of two ideas—original sin and the need for hard work—to show how they underlie current Republican refusals to provide pandemic relief for millions. I tell the story of the moment I glimpsed a different view of human nature from Sobonfu Somé of the Dagara people of West Africa. Now, during a pandemic, the way back to a healthy country is the same way we’d grow a healthy tree: just tender loving care. Providing all the food and support people need for life to flow through them freely again. Because people and trees are alike after all.

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