The Great Mining Disaster

I am uncertain when this tragedy started to unfold, nor the origins or exactly where it is centralized; the why or when of when it started. This one thing that struck me is that no matter when it began, it is still going on and it has impacted ever country and nation of this modern day world.  Like a pebble dropped in the middle of the ocean, its ripple effect continues day in and day out.  It seems to me to be never ending and now, it seems to me never beginning, that is I cannot pin point when it began.  Did you know that you and I are contributors to this great mining disaster, and I know I feed into it just about every day of my life?  As long as just one person continues to feed this disaster, it will never end, for it continues to be fed the fuel it needs to continue growing and expanding, enlarging its borders.

This great mining disaster contributes and at times is a catalyst in wars, famine, pollution and similar disasters that are running rampant on this earth.  Heck, it is even responsible for contributing to the death of the earth and the air we breathe, the water we so need to stay alive.

If we do not get a handle on this; do not see the root cause and collectively, but starting individually, start contributing our resources to rid the universe of the contributor, ultimately we will collectively be responsible for wiping out all life.  I do not exaggerate.

What initiated this disaster?  It was the use of one word, first thought and then spoken.  I believe it was just one word, and not a big word at that; only two letters.  Can you guess the word?

Before telling you what this word is, let me reinforce and remind you of my belief that there is power in a single word:  power to give life or take life.  It’s that simple.  These days there is much ado about being successful, phrases spoken like, “change your thoughts, change your life,” or “as a man thinketh, so he is.”  Thoughts are unspoken words.  If our thoughts, kept to self, have such a power internally, what about when spoken, when uttered out into the atmosphere?  Does that power diminish, or does it increase?

If I keep the thought to self and never speak it in word, perhaps it only impacts my life.  But, if I speak that thought in words, it is thrown out into the atmosphere, into the airwaves, and it ripples out there, impacting everything.  It doesn’t just stop on my street because I live on that street; it has no boundaries.

As a support for this posturing, I talk about words and their power, I rely upon what I’ve read in the Book of Genesis, about how YHWH created.  Did He mix up a formula and pour it out; or perhaps add a drop of water to a pebble and it grew into a mountain, heck grew into a planet or a star or a tree or….and the list goes on?  No, He did not do any of these things.  He spoke.  He first desired (thus thought) to do something and then He spoke and it became, it came into existence.

Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. [Comment: This is a spoken, life giving word from YHWH; the power to create and do well.]

Genesis 6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. [Comment: The power of a word spoken to kill, to destroy.]

We are made in the image of our Creator.  Being made in someone’s image means we have some of, if not all of their attributes; their abilities.  Perhaps we do not have them to the same extent, but we do have them.

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Having established that there is life or death in but a single word, I think it is about time I provided you with the word that is the root cause, the catalyst of this great mining disaster.

My

That’s it.  A tiny word, but with the power to start wars!  The word “my” and all of its derivatives, including the word “mine” (ergo the title of this article “mining disaster”) are the beginning and ongoing contributors.  If I can remove “my” from my vocabulary, when used in a possessory way, I think I can then contribute to the healing of the earth’s woes, earth’s disasters.

This light came on the other day when I was making my daily protein drink, washing the strawberries for it, resulting in thoughts an article came to life called “Washing Strawberries:  A Life Lesson.”  When I started to write the article I had written the words, “As I was washing my strawberries….” and I stopped dead in my tracks, asking, “What do you mean ‘my’ strawberries?”  I then began to think of the use of that word my, how often I used it and did so inappropriately.

If you truly believe that everything (including your physical self) is on loan to you, belongs to the Creator, then what gives you or me the right to say things like:

• my body
• my house
• my family
• my job
• etc. – you continue with this list; we could write a list chapter alone

If I can consciously make an effort to remove the word “my” from my vocabulary when it is used in such a way as to denote possession, that it belongs to me and me only, I think I and the world will be a better place for it. I think I will attain a sense of freedom, in the true realization that it is not mine, but someone or something has graciously given it to me for my use at this moment in time; that I have been blessed with a gifting.  And, if it is something non-perishable or tangible, that I can pass on (pay forward) when it has served its purpose in “my” life (which really isn’t mine; I didn’t create me), to someone who appears to have temporary need of it in their life?

Think about these things.

After all, aren’t most wars fought about territorial and ownership rights that people and nations say, “They belong to me; these are mine!”

Let’s start to heal this world, choosing our words wisely and removing words, such as “my”, that contribute to the problems.