Always was, always will be
Sometimes if a notion is repeated often enough, people believe it, even if their experience says otherwise. In a conversation with a friend recently, I was surprised when she said that the survival of the fittest was the driving force in our lives and in nature. I disagreed. I thought cooperation between and within species was more dominant. Let’s say, we agreed to disagree but since, when I heard Care being described as a primary human drive, I knew that was right. Care is of the essence of who we are.
This year’s NAIDOC week theme, Always was, always will be celebrates this. It acknowledges the care with which the First Nation peoples have lived on this land. One doesn’t survive fighting against nature. Rather one thrives living within a web of relationships that honours all: land, water, vegetation, animals, community. Such care begins with noticing: seeing what happens within the seasons, how nature around us works in together and then discovering our own place in this network. It sees each of us and all of us within a network of care. And there we grow to our truest and best self.
In the foundational creation story of the Bible God gives the earth into the care of humanity, for us be fruitful and multiply. We are made to love where we live and to not only treasure what is around us but to thrive – together. As we join in the NAIDOC celebrations this week, may each of us cherish where are and realise that we thrive together.
Loving Father, you delight in your creation, making it a place of beauty in which we are to thrive. May we learn the wisdom of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples so that we may stand together in this great land, caring for and serving each other. We ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear us.
Sr Kym Harris osb
