Wild Woman Knows What She Knows

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Wild Woman made a journey
into the future, into the remains
of a world where all beings
have been finally deemed equal
in our capacity to suffer and die from
a deadly virus.

She saw two screens,
where future life was
playing out.

In one, the global wildlife trade
had stopped, wet markets and
factory farms had closed.
Animals were granted respect
and lives free of abuse,
as were all humans.
Humanity had changed the way
we live on Mother Earth.
She was beginning to heal.

On the other screen,
were wars and great suffering,
rampant disease and death
from hundreds of pandemics
unleashed by cruel practices,
 a world of rapacious greed,
extreme poverty and suffering,
a world choking on its own fumes,
a beautiful garden turned into
a human-created hell.

Wild Woman woke up
before she saw which path we chose.
She has no answer to that question;
she only knows what she knows,
and she'll share her wisdom well
before she goes.


Experts are saying the corona virus will still be around (the same as influenza) even after we flatten the curve and develop a vaccine. They also say more pandemics are waiting to be unleashed in the places where animals are cruelly caged, slaughtered and "processed" into food. (In North America, our factory "farms" are as damning as what we cluck about overseas. Hundreds of workers in those facilities are testing positive for covid.) Ancient viruses are also waking up in the north, where the tundra where they are stored is melting. This virus is our biggest sign yet that global change is needed in how we live on earth. Huge change. We need visionary leaders.  We need to heed the experts, and our own inner wisdom.

for Day 16 at Real Toads: In the Remains