“Poets warned us, writing of the heartbreaking beauty that will
remain when there is no heart to break for it. But what if it is worse than
that? What if it’s the heartbroken children who remain in a world without
beauty? How will they find solace in a world without wild music? How will they
thrive without green hills edged with oaks? How will they forgive us for
letting frog-song slip away? When my granddaughter looks back at me, I will be
on my knees, begging her to say I did all I could.
I didn’t do all I could have done.
It isn’t enough to love a child and wish her well. It isn’t
enough to open my heart to a bird-graced morning. Can I claim to love a morning
if I don’t protect what creates its beauty? Can I claim to love a child if I
don’t use all the power of my beating heart to preserve a world that nourishes
children’s joy? Loving is not a kind of la-de-da.
Loving is a sacred trust. To love is to affirm the absolute
worth of what you love and to pledge your life to its thriving—to protect it
fiercely and faithfully, for all time.“
~Kathleen Dean Moore, from “The Call to Forgiveness at the End
of the Day”
Painting by Elisabeth Slettes
This beautiful passage will be featured in our Mother Earth book.
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