Mud Pies

As a child, I used to be fascinated with dirt, worms, and especially catching grasshoppers and bringing them home as pets. All of the things a 7-year-old should be into when they’re in the Second Grade. When my brother Jarold and I were little, we used to go into our backyard and water up the soil so we could make these endless amounts of mud pies. I loved the way it felt in my hand, being moulded and sculpted into what seemed to be my Mother’s worst nightmare. In the moment that my little hand could control something, I didn’t realize how beautiful this piece of mud really was. That, at that moment, this little piece of earth, meant to my 7-year-old mind, that I could control the outcome of this little marvellous piece of wet dirt.

In resemblance to a larger picture, I’d ask you to imagine my mud pie as our planet Earth. It came from resources given to us, provided for us to use - it was just kinda always there. Now that it has been placed within our hands, our care, we are able to cater to the Earth, as we should, as a human race. To keep it hydrated and full of life, so it can continue to give us life, and life to come. If by chance its care is neglected, it then only shatters as quickly as it was brought, to a single dry grain of dirt – like my mud pies when they were left out in the Sun to dry.

In an article entitled, Traditional Ecological Knowledge: The Third Alternative it was stated that “Connectedness and relatedness are involved in the clan systems of many indigenous peoples, where nonhuman organisms are recognized as relatives whom the humans are obliged to treat with respect and honour.” To my understanding, and in relevance to my experience, it draws you to one main focus. That when you deconstruct the idea to its very core, we, as living entities who also inhabit this earth, are obliged to care for all that exists, so that this land will be able to provide existence within and for the Future. In parallel to that, authors of said article, Periotti and Wildcat, have also mentioned that we living organisms are in, “obligations toward other forms of life that are often unrecognized, or at least not emphasized.” This stanza is of significance to me because of how accurate it is, and how easily available we are to maintain the progression and maintenance of the respect for Land and all it has provided us, and will provide for us. From this stanza I've come to distinguish that no matter what race or species, we need to collectively come together as a universe to maintain the sustenance that is sustaining us.

Hamilton, ON, Canada, carries as a special place in my heart. It's where I was educated on certain worldviews and ways of knowing. An institution that helped define me as part of the Woman I didn’t realize I was/am becoming. Blessed to of have met souls there vibrant enough to let my light shine with theirs, we made the drive to volunteer and clear up litter within certain parts of Hamilton. I had two friends with me that day. We were sectioned off into the water, to collect any garbage that seemed to be 'misplaced.' I was suddenly and nostalgically, reminded by my mud pies, walking into the streams and creeks while picking up empty bottles, plastic bags, and bike tires. In retrospect, I was taken back to how my hands had gotten bigger, able to carry more earth, able to do more for the Earth.

Little did I know, Earth would be my mud pie.