What Have You Done to Save the Earth Today?

It sounds ridiculous, when you put it that way, doesn't it? But it's a phrase I play in my mind, over and over again, like a CD that skips right where you put your dirty thumbprint.

I realize many people who, like me, are into causes for the earth have a tendency to be a little bit of downers. But don't blame the cause. If we weren't here, we'd be downers about the state of the economy, the state of religion, or the state of the prisons in America. Thankfully many of us are here, so you can poke fun of us in a big group.

But getting back to my original point. I find life sometimes boring. And depressing. Why? Because that's just me, damn it. Here I am. I've been like this since I was 15, maybe before. And yes, I find doing the dishes just as damn boring as most. I hate doing the dishes. I don't really like doing the laundry, either. And, by God, if I was alive during the pioneer days, I'm sure I'd hate shoeing horses, plowing, and killing chickens for dinner. Even though I've read many Zen Buddhist monks expound the wonders of doing the dishes and calming the mind, it's never really made sense to me.

Which is why the mantra above, What have you done to save the Earth today?, makes so much sense to me. Okay, maybe I'm overly melodramatic. Or incredibly pathetic. But putting those things together in my mind makes me feel good about the trail I'm leaving behind. Which is something you can't say when you go through a 12-pack by yourself watching TV all Saturday. (Or really, going through it while you're camping, either.)

Those little damn things - they may not even make you feel all that good. Like taking all the leaves last Sunday, mulching them up, then putting them back on the yard as mulch. It took a lot of time. I sweated and sweated and sweated. (Right here is where the doctor of your choice says, "Well, that's exactly what you're supposed to be doing. Not sitting inside reading a book!") And I sort of liked it. But that's not the point. I don't have to like it. The same way I don't have to necessarily like having to go to work every day. But it's related to the rest of your life, and beyond your life. In the case of both of those, they are legacies I leave for my children (who will benefit from me working and me working in the yard.)

Much of life is boring. I 've heard people complaining about it in school, church, home, work... And the funny thing about a practice like meditation, which we've all heard is so wonderful, secret, and inspiring, is how boring the actual act itself is. You don't sit up and say, "I'm inspired!" The opposite! You're calming down your wild mind, with all its crazy ideas like how you'd love to make $1B by becoming a wind power entrepreneur to why the heck people spend money on slot machines. And there's the rub: by smoothing out your mind, you are doing the same thing, leaving a legacy, the history you leave as you interact with everyone and everything around you.

It's tricky, right? And sort of stupid sounding, if you don't think it out. I understand that. Believe me, I understand that.

But it's important to keep these things in mind when we lower our thermostats and put on a sweater, choose to walk to the library instead of driving (even though it'll take 20 more minutes out of your day), or the myriad of things we do which are perceived by many, even ourselves, as taking too long, too hard, seemingly not worth the extra effort.

What did we do to save the Earth today? Well, we just talked about it. And hopefully we'll go away with something to do, in the right frame of mind.