Equality: How is This Even a Debate?

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

-Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Incense Burning Individually Yet Together (Malaysia - 2007)

Equality should be an inalienable right granted to all who are born on this planet.  We are all living beings.  We share the same planet, we cultivate and eat the same food, we drink the same water, and we breathe the same air.  At our core we are all the same yet in our society we focus on the differences between us and we ignore the similarities.  We spend so much time arguing about why we're right, we don't bother to hear somebody else's side of the story.  Whereas if we actually took the time to listen to a different perspective, to talk to people who think and believe different things than ourselves, we would grow as individuals as well as a society and a planet as a whole.  We consider ourselves to be an advanced civilization; we've visited the moon, we can put rovers on Mars and probes into deep space.  We can dive into the deepest depths of the ocean, climb the tallest mountains, travel anywhere on the globe with relative speed and ease compared to even just our grandparents, and commercial space travel appears to be just around the corner.  Despite these great feats that would be unimaginable to people even just 100 years ago, we as a society cannot seem to treat each other with the dignity and respect that we all deserve.  We fail to realize that each and every one of us are all trying to achieve the exact same goal of simply living and existing on this planet.  Wars are started over religious differences.  The color of your skin determines the opportunities presented to you and the challenges you encounter from your first breath on this earth until your last.  If you are part of the LGBTQ+ community you are generally thought of as odd, creepy, gross, or someone who is lost and can't find themselves. Your schooling and the job that you hold determines what your level of success is in life as seen through the eyes of your community.  Society judges you based on the home that you live in and the car that you drive.  People are chastised for having different political views.  Sports and activities have so many similarities yet we only focus on the differences, "oh you like hiking, well I only like running so get on out of here, you can't join our club."  For the love of god, don't even dare to listen to the "wrong" type of music for if it falls outside of what is seen as "normal" among your peers then you are labeled as an outcast and discarded into the wind to never be heard from again.  What is the point of all of this?  How is any of that beneficial to anyone?  Why do we let our differences divide us instead of letting our similarities unite us?  These differences should be celebrated and there is absolutely no way we as a species can call ourselves an advanced civilization until we can put our differences aside and treat each and every person on this planet with the dignity and respect they deserve.  I can only imagine what our world would look like to someone born on a different planet visiting our society.

June of 2020 Update

June is when things really start rocking in the garden!  Everything is planted and now the goal is to keep the weeds at bay, water the plants, watch them grow, spread compost around on the plants as soon and as often as possible and to start reaping the rewards.  Composting is key to growing healthy plants.  The soil health needs to be built up in order for the plants to have all the nutrients they need to survive, ward of pests, and produce healthy food.  Without soil health you have nothing and without compost you don't have any soil health.  In short, keeping the circle of life moving is key to having a great urban farm or garden!  This is something that the vast majority of gardeners, urban farmers, and even a lot of farmers don't realize and don't focus on.  Probably because it's the part of the process that you can't see, but soil health is without a doubt the most important part of growing your own food, hands down!