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Dear Dolly,
Someone told me that they were eco-alienated. I asked him to repeat their question as in echo? Or eco? They said eco-alienated. I had to ask what they meant. They said they were worried about the fact that New York State had 10 unexpectedly severe weather events between 2010 and 2020. They were scared of the environment. When the wind blew, they had anxiety attacks. When the rain didn’t stop after seven or eight hours, they had more anxiety attacks. Instead of breathing the air and enjoying the water, they were nervous. Do you think eco-alienation or echolalia is widespread or just part of the echo in the echo chamber?
Eco
Dear Eco – Echo,
I very much appreciate your question. My friend was underwater in her Harlem basement apartment twice last year. She died last weekend. She was 54 and in good health. When I asked her daughter what she had died from, her daughter said she died of Covid. I said, “I thought you told me she died of a heart attack.” The daughter said, “yes, she did die of a heart attack, brought on by the isolation and alienation of Covid.” And then there was her eco-alienation.
The second time the apartment flooded the daughter invited the mother to come live with her in Staten Island. The mother said absolutely not. She remained eco–alienated by no fault of her own. Covid wasn’t her fault either. There’s so much left to say.
How do we blame ourselves for things so far outside of our own control? How real is stress? Perhaps, we accept responsibility for what we might’ve done yesterday.
I met a man who said he was going to stop drinking when all the vodka was gone in 2051. It might be time to start stopping now. Otherwise, we just become echoes of echoes of echoes of our own alienation.
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 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.
