Wild as Alien Image

EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume Five, Number Two
November/December 1995

FOCUSING ON DEVELOPMENT MAKES 'WILD' AN ALIEN IMAGE

I recently spent three weeks in China: the first week at the NGO women's forum and the second two weeks traveling. I would like to share with you some observations on religion/spirituality and ecology in China.

While the main themes at the governmental Fourth World Conference on Women were Equality, Development and Peace, the environment and religion/spirituality were key issues at the NGO Forum. Every workshop on these topics was well attended.

At the Forum I organized a panel entitled "Weaving the Connections: Women, the Earth, and the World's Religions", co-sponsored by the Women and Spirituality Working Group of the United Nations, of which I am a member. The presenters spoke from Christian, Hindu, Indigenous and Wiccan perspectives to a very receptive, interactive, and standing room only audience.

I was particularly moved by a Chinese woman who said she had no religion but lived out of an ethic of giving her life in service to the people. She spoke of the death of her son and how she was able to accept his death within the context of this ethic. (This sounds like the 'party line', but my tears and the tears of the other people in the room were, I believe, a testament to her sincerity.)

A Japanese woman asked me to sign a petition demanding that her government make amends to the women who were "sex slaves" for the Japanese military during World War II. What courage she is showing! When we parted she gave me the gift of an origami blue bird. May it fly in a world where women and men live in true equality.

During my travels I concentrated on religious sites. In the Buddhist temple in Datong as well as on Mount Taishan, which is sacred to the Taoists, there were active worshippers. In the large groups that were visiting the grave of Confucius there was a feeling of great respect. While our guides referred to these events as the old superstitions, this was obviously not how the people there were feeling.

The overwhelming impression I received was of a country where development is the key concern. There was little beauty, but construction and people everywhere. At the Zhou Enlai museum in Tianjin our guide showed me a picture with deer, that was apparently a favorite of hers. I shared with her that I have deer in my yard back home. She expressed concern over who was feeding them while I was in China. I explained that they were wild, but she was not able to grasp this concept.

I am concerned that we are all destined to live in a world of development and cities where there is no longer even a concept of wild, and pray that we may all work together — Chinese and Americans — so this will not come to pass.