Moses

No, I'm not acting in the local production of the Ten Commandments. Yes, people have mistaken this picture of me for a biblical pharaoh or even Jesus himself, but don't let the headpiece fool you, it's just a table linen.

So what's happening in this picture? Go ahead, give it your best guess.

It’s actually quite simple:

This picture was taken in Chicago on the first truly gorgeous day of 2017. I was in the sun and, since I'm bald, I was getting a little burned; I decided to throw a napkin over my head rather than move to the shade. Yes, after months of desperately searching for the sun, I was more willing to risk my dignity than disown the sun.

It struck me the next day, after I saw the picture, how desperately connected to mother nature we humans really are. I was willing to risk the pointing and snickering of other people to absorb some vitamin D. I mean, I REALLY didn’t care what other people thought of me. I just needed sunshine!

We humans forget that sometimes, right (or at least I do)? We see ourselves as separate from nature, rather than as a part of it. And I think that’s a dangerous place to exist, and for a bunch of reasons. Just from an environmental perspective, the world is slipping away from us (some biologists even think that we’re on the verge of a large mass extinction) and we humans are to blame (sure, I know there's a cyclical nature to climate change that is out of our control, but there's no doubt that we're speeding up that process).

Let's go back to Moses for a second. Remember that part in the Bible (or is it just in the Hollywood movie?) where he's speaking with God on Mount Ararat and God gives him the Ten Commandments? Then he comes down to share his knowledge and sees the sin of humanity, their idol worship specifically, and he breaks the stone tablets that the commandments are written upon. That was Moses' way of showing that knowledge is nothing unless there is a deep passion for change. Those commandments were completely meaningless to people who were more interested in bowing to golden objects than knowing the “truth.” And the same can be said for our course. Are we really interested in seeing our connectedness to the future of our planet - our connectedness to one another - or are we more interested in purchasing the next BMW and Louis Vuitton bag? 

Anyway, that's enough gloom and doom for today (the sun isn’t out and I’m sitting here on my couch with a cup of tea at 10 AM in complete darkness). Take this diary entry as a reminder to see your connectedness to everything around you, including nature.

And also remember to take more photos. You never know how revisiting moments might spark new thoughts (my friends are all laughing at this point because I'm usually the party pooper who never wants to stop and pose for photos).