One Bead to Another

“We need to be as beads of a chain.  Different people can be doing different things as long as we hang together.” 

Brilliant.

Dr. Vandana Shiva is a figure within the Environmental Studies community.  She stands amongst Wendell Berry, Rachel Carson, and Maude Barlow.  She has been a constant fixture of my collegiate education.  While I have not always agreed with all of her controversial and pioneering reasoning, I admire her.  She is an adamant, confident, and knowledgeable advocate for the environmentally and socially marginalized of the world.  It was truly an honor to meet her. 

I thoroughly enjoyed her lecture and found myself nodding in agreement for the majority of it.  However, one particular statement, the quote above, struck me especially.  It fully embodied every ideal she was advancing.  The Food Movement, the Gender Movement, and the Environmental Movement are all interconnected in one global and societal web.  It is one holistic - Gaia-hypothesis – social movement.  One cannot be an advocate for one cause and not for another. 

The chain of beads also reflects upon the world population.  While we are free to act as individuals, we must always be mindful of the greater community and remember to “hang together.”  We are all individual beads strung upon the thread of life.  We come in different colors, designs, and materials; together we create one beautiful piece of art.  If one of us chooses to attack the thread (drastic pesticide use), add greater weight (increased consumption), or attack those around us (bio-piracy), we will break the thread.  The integrity of the thread relies upon the equality of each bead. 

From one bead to another: let’s hang out.