IF

The Earth is spinning on an axis right now, beneath your feet, at 460 meters per second or 1000 miles per hour. 92 million miles away, a hydrogen sphere of gas and plasma rages on just enough for the sunlight to hit your face. And right here, right now, Earth rotates around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour. 8 billion human people live on Earth and they all hate each other for human reasons. They all hate each other for living on the wrong rocks, being the wrong color, loving the wrong people, and having the wrong body. Most of Earth is water, it falls from the sky by the hogsheads but millions go without it. Science says the earth is dying or at least humanity’s ability to live here will end. Right now, somewhere, your favorite flower is growing. Today is Earth Day. 

The Earth is 4.543 billion years old and it has never stopped spinning. But what if Earth took a day for itself, as mothers tend to do? I wonder if we could generate enough force to keep her spinning if all 8 billion people put their mind and spirits to it. How beautiful would it be if everyone stood on the same ground with a single plan and kept the world moving even when it wasn’t supposed to? How great would it be if Earth could spin on the intentions of humanity alone? If for one day, the soil had enough nutrients only because we wished it so.  

PROBABLY

That’s probably a bit too ridiculous. If the Earth stopped spinning for a day, there would be widespread tsunamis and earthquakes and billions of people would die. Millions more would probably freeze to death. Earth would lose its magnetic field and people would become more susceptible to radiation from space and they’d probably die from that as well. But remember that these are human people, the worst kind of people. If Earth froze as is, the day would go on forever (six months) for one side of the world and the night would last forever for the other. The day people would probably lambast the night people for being cold and for their weariness and eventually they’d hate them for not having the light. The day people and the night people would go to war and by the time Earth awoke from her slumber, her children would have maimed each other so much that they would probably be indistinguishable from each other. 

MAYBE 

Earth Day is a time we dedicate to the service of the Earth. We clean her, spend time amongst her in her most natural state, and use the time to observe heightened awareness of the ways in which we could live more sustainably. “Reduce, reuse, recycle,” was a mantra I was taught on Earth Day in the 2nd grade. As I got older, my understanding of Earth Day seemed to shift. We used our human mind to center ourselves amidst Earth’s spinning axis as the potential destroyers and saviors of Earth. When in reality, Earth can destroy us far before we’d get the chance to and we can only save ourselves. Of course we should use this day to hold the corporations responsible for mutilating our home. But maybe we should use Earth Day as a time to celebrate each other. Earth Day stretches across all faiths, all races, all genders, all sexualities, all classes… all human people. Earth is a mother and our home. The ground we stand on, gives us a common struggle and a common race. Sure, smoke your blunt and bask in the sunlight and feel the breeze and inhale a heavy helping in the spring air and eat your favorite fruit, but make sure you love all the human people here at home with you. Earth Day, a human holiday if there was one.

🦋

published April 22, 2022