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Dear Dolly,
I have been living in the land of the should about the environment. I should do something about something about something about it. I have a reel that plays over in my brain. I woulda if I coulda but I didn’t so I don’t. Then my car got destroyed by Hurricane Ida, my neighbor’s basement is underwater, and my uncle was floating on the New Jersey Turnpike. Maybe I should pay attention? And if I figure out how to pay attention, then what should I do next?
Dear Should,
You are a truly dumb f….Then again you are part of the great human family, living deep within denial, which is not just a river in Egypt. De Nile is a place. It is a real place. It is the land where you don’t know something until it hits you upside of your stupid head.
I recommend you recite 50 Hail Mary’s, followed by 50 Hail Waters, followed by 50 Hail Seas, followed by 50 Hail Mountains, etc. Include earth, sky, stars, galaxies. When you have done a full set of 500 “Hails,” you can start on your Rosary Beads. Touch one for each of your 500 apologies to nature. Take a good long look at your recycling and flagellate yourself with all plastic items as long as you can take it. Flagellate hard.
When you are done with your cycle(s) of repentance, do nothing again for a few months. The next IDA will come along, and you will have to repeat the whole cycle. If you prefer to do something to resacralize your relationship with the environment, you could also join your local environmental group, send them $25.00 a month on automatic deduction for the short rest of your happy life, and show up. Listen. Learn. Act.
Action, no matter how small, is a lot more fun than repentance. Repentance is good for the soul; reversing field is good for the soul AND the environment. Reset your clock from shame to action. God forgives you because God loves you. You might not save your soul but at least you will live in a less agonizing personal space.
Dolly
Who is the Dolly Mama?
The Dolly Mama is a spiritual version of Dear Abby. Her intention is to combine the irreverence of Dolly Parton with the surrender and non-attachment beloved by Buddhists. She wants to let go of what can’t be fixed – in either self or others – and fix what can be by applying the balm of humor.
She is a spiritual handyperson, a soul mechanic, a repairer of broken appliances. Every now and then the combination of letting go and hanging on achieves sufficient balance for an improvement in spiritual posture, stronger spine, and personal peace. The Dolly Mama is not her day job. By day, she works as an ordained United Church of Christ and American Baptist pastor of a regular, if edgy, congregation.