Break the Momentum

by Jim Drescher

"It's my land;
I can do whatever I want with it.
If I want to destroy the forest,
that's my business, not yours.
If I want to strip off the topsoil,
that's my business, not yours.
If I want to liquidate the homes of a thousand animals,
that's my business, not yours.
I own the land;
the law says I can do whatever I want with it."

Who owns a forest that took 10,000 years to develop?
Who owns the soil formed by that forest?
Who owns the plants and animals?
How can you own a tree that was already old in this place
when your grandfather was not yet born?
How can you own the topsoil which has accumulated naturally
for thousands of years from the bodies of untold
trillions of beings.
How can you own the animals
each of whom has been your mother?
What kind of law says you can?
Whose law?
We need legal assistance in this dark age
if we are to avoid total destruction
in the name of the law,
the law that makes legal all manner
of arrogance, greed, and stupidity
if you "own the land."

Perhaps there is a higher law
based on gentleness, intelligence and fearlessness:
Gentleness to find one's natural place
in the community of all other beings;
intelligence to recognize that we can be sustained by nature
only if we minimize our impacts on it;
fearlessness to break the momentum
of anthropocentric law.
Is there the possibility of enlightened society?
Is it legal?

 

Posted February 2008