Water Ways
by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC
Although our ponds, creeks and trees have been helped by some showers this Winter, our reservoirs are still at extremely low levels. The recent hard rain is a blessing, but one that is only the bare beginning of drought recovery for NC.There has been hopeful movement towards change in our water consumption habits, but I’m afraid we have not completely changed our mindset and will become complacent once again. I’m afraid we have not learned what we need to know.
As we are reminded by history, there was once a time when we knew we were related to Water. There has always been drought, but there has never been excessive use by an unsustainable population as there is today. Rainfall or not, our days of abundant water supplies is gone.
We need to understand, without hesitation, that Water is sacred, the origin of life. Eliot Cowan, Shaman and author of Plant Spirit Medicine, hears it this way: “Look at the way people squander water. They don’t realize they are utterly dependent on rainfall, that water is the very blood in their veins.”
We need to mend our water ways and attitudes now and for the future. We cannot prevent drought but we can be better prepared for it when we honor nature and water day to day in a way that respects our dependence on it. It’s time to reestablish our connection to the source of life and give water the attention it deserves, both for our dwindling water supply and for our own wholeness.
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