Letters to my children--Just how special are you?

Dear N, M, E, S, and B,

How special are you to me?  Immensely.  Each of you is different and amazing in your own ways.  You can't measure how special you are to me.

That's important, but there is another way to look at "special."

In the past I might have told you that you had intrinsic worth because God was your creator.  Even when viewed through the lens of evolution, which I was prone to do, God was ultimately the creator because he either got the process going in the first place, guided it along, or at the very least, put the spirits into Adam and Eve.  That relation to God and the possibility for what came in the next life was where the worth of a human being came from.  Otherwise, we were just a tiny piece in a huge puzzle, rather insignificant.

A lot of books have been written about self-esteem or the alternate, more spiritual term, "self worth." It seems there are many people, young and old, who suffer from feeling like they are worthless.  I think this has less to do with a misunderstanding of their inner worth from a perspective of a heavenly parent, and more to do with the barrage of choices, and the misinformation that is promoted in every way in society.

We have departed very far and very fast from what we evolved to be.  I'm not blaming technology completely for this.  After all, every species takes part in technology.  (To understand this, you must remove from your mind the idea that technology requires electricity or some other kind of man-made power. Think of all of the documentaries we have watched about animal and plant life.  They are adapted to do some amazing things and this is a definition of technology.)  However, due to the way that humans have been able to grow their population and interlink and pool their knowledge, things have changed beyond our evolutionary capacity to keep up.  Or in other words, the accumulated knowledge and messes mankind has added to the earth have sped past biological advances.  Biological change and adaptation takes hundreds of thousands if not millions of years.

Technology has led to both: too much work and too little work.  It has led to too much food and too little of the healthiest foods.  It has led to depletion of water and degrading of water.  It has led to an ultra-rich country that cannot take proper care of its poor and cannot see the rest of the world due to its myopic vision.  It has led to a larger world vision, but also the anxiety of not being able to do it all.

I could go on and on.  And, like I said, technology is not all bad.  The technology of the future is going to have to lead us back a degree.  It is going to have to be precise and even smarter than it is now, but it is going to have to lead us back to our roots if our species is to survive.  There are many cues that led me to this conclusion.  I have been observing the sustainable living movement and reading books such as Richard Louv's "The Nature Principle," watching documentaries like e-squared, and watching the presentations at TED.com.  The arguments given there are persuasive to me.  As I personalize it and think about my kids and possible grandkids, I can see that we have a big choice as a species.  I'm sad to consider the world that we are leaving to our children.

I may be off track a bit here.  I'll try to draw my ideas around to something that makes sense.

So, here's a question.  How do you view the human species?

It's obvious that we have used our technology to become dominant.  Of course, I used to believe that God made it that way.  We were meant to be stewards, but still, dominant.  What if we took the idea of the human species, which is standing pretty far up on a pedestal above the other species of the earth and brought it down level with all of the other species.  Does that make you feel uncomfortable?  What if I told you that your value is not more or less than the ant crawling across the sidewalk?  Is that a repulsive thought?

It is to me, but for a reason other than you might think.  We have made a huge mess.  Some scientists are trying to unravel the mysteries behind how we made the mess and what needs to be done to fix the mess (as best we can).  This is the science that is most valuable to me.  And it's what gives me hope and possibly worth.  The fact that we have made the mess along with a feeling of responsibility lead me to think that we have to keep striving for the answers.  We can't step back from the responsibility we have as a species.  The most important thing humans can do, in my opinion, is to figure out how to stop damaging the earth, give her back the reign of her species, and live in peace with each other and all life.  This is no small challenge.  I'm not entirely convinced we are capable of this, but I hope we are.  So, what can you do?

For now, I want you to keep developing your talents.  I'm happy to see that all of you care about the natural world.  It takes hard work and thoughtful patience to care in the ways that you kids all care.  Though you may choose different things to study and do as you grow older, I'd like you to keep ideas about the earth and what needs to be done in the back of your mind.  Try to incorporate it in some way with whatever path you take.  I'd like you to think of yourselves as important, for the work you can do to help bring about change, but I'd like you to think about yourselves as "just another species," when you consider if something you are doing is good or bad for the earth.

I'd like you to think about ways you can simplify your lives.  The digital world is certainly a part of the future and you will need to understand it, but learn when it is necessary and when it is not.  Think about entertainment.  Do you need to see a movie/play or would your mental and emotional self benefit more from a walk in the woods or perhaps even some service work?  Think about connectedness.  Does having 250 Facebook friends say anything about you? (not that any of you fall in that category, but it's just a good question to ponder)    What do your possessions say about you? your travels?  your job? your trash? your reading list? your relationships?

I have been thinking about these questions for myself for a long time and will continue to do so, as well as many other questions.

Keep learning and keep working!

Love,

Mom