Belonging/Being at Home

I am a traveller.  I have travelled in the Canadian wilderness since I was 14 years old by canoe, skis, on foot and by kayak.  I have travelled around the world – by plane, boat, bus, water buffalo, camel, elephant and various other means.   I love to travel.   And today I sit at home on the island where I belong, enjoying being warm and at home while it rains.  Yes, its raining as it does in a temperate rain forest in the Pacific Northwest at the end of September. Its just the start of the long fall and winter rainy season.  I’m listening to CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) radio which is my lifeline to my home country when I am away travelling.  Listening to CBC radio via internet has helped me through home sickness when I’m away from my West Coast home.   Thank you so much to the staff of CBC radio for the beautiful and enlightening programming and being a thread that truly helps to weave this immense country together!!!

I hear a report  on CBC that the policing authorities shot a grizzly bear that spent the weekend in a local park in a community in northern British Columbia.  They set traps for  the bear for a day and then decided to shoot him/her because of the fear that he/she could be dangerous for people and their pets.  It reminds me of the black bear that swam onto the island where I live a few years ago.  He lived happily on the island over the winter occasionally being spotted by people….never getting into garbage, never interfering with the lives of the humans or their pets who were all living in that bear’s territory and his home.   He was living in his home where he was simply being.

Then the policing authorities decided they were going to trap the bear.  We, the other human inhabitants of this sacred island believed that they were going to trap and fly the bear to a more remote location in the mountains (which is another option to the quicker less expensive killing of a bear).  Instead the policing authorities shot the bear.  The children and many of us felt betrayed and saddened that this happened.  And obviously it is still happening.   It makes me feel very sad.

Why are these tragic intentioned killing happen?   Because we are afraid of our bear brothers and sisters, fellow beings who co-habit this home with us.  And we lack respect and regard for their lives.   Do unto others as you would have them to unto you.   If you were wandering around in your own home would you want someone to shoot and kill you because they were afraid of you?  Or would you like to be moved to a place where you could be happy and those around you would be happy.   When will we find peace in our own minds about the “others” whether they be humans or bears or any “other” that we perceive to be the enemy or that we are fearful of?    Will we change our beliefs and attitudes, or will we continue to justify and rationalize why we are both destroying our home planet and the creatures here at home?

I believe that when we come home in Spirit to ourselves and to the place or places that we are meant to serve on the planet, we will be able to acknowledge our oneness and feeling truly at home with other beings, human or non-human. I look forward to that day.