Living in Kinship (Linda Thompson)
Part 4 of 4, from Reflections on BRAIDING SWEETGRASS, a special edition of AllCreation.
Robin Wall Kimmerer in Braiding Sweetgrass repeatedly emphasizes the kinship between the human and the more-than-human world. One cannot exist without the other. It is imperative that the human species with its gift of words and language recognize that the Earth is a gift that exists for the benefit of all, a gift that we must pass on, just as it came to us, not degraded by our willful omission of care. Kimmerer uses the metaphor of “respiration” to illustrate the inter-dependance, the kinship of all beings:
The breath of plants gives life to animals and the breath of animals gives life to plants. My breath is your breath, your breath is mine. It’s the great poem of give and take, of reciprocity that animates the world. Only when people understand the symbiotic relationships that sustain them can they become people capable of gratitude and reciprocity. The very facts of the world are a poem. (p. 334).
Kimmerer prays that we will open our eyes, minds, and hearts enough to embrace our more-than- human kin, that we will be willing to engage intelligences not our own. (p. 363) This same ideal of brotherhood is expressed even more beautifully by Chief Luther Standing Bear (Teton Sioux, c.1868-1939) in Native American Wisdom:
The concept of life and its relations was humanizing, and gave to the Lakota an abiding love. It filled his being with the joy and mystery of living; it gave him reverence for all life; it made a place for all things in the scheme of existence with equal importance to all.
Everything was possessed of personality, only differing from us in form. Knowledge was inherent in all things. The world was a library and its books were the stones, leaves, grass, brooks and the birds and animals that share, alike with us, the storms and blessings of earth. We learned to feel beauty. (pp. 43, l9)
Austin Wildlife Rescue, a local organization that recognizes the value and personhood of more- than-human animals, is dedicated to the “rescue, rehabilitation, and release of injured and medically needy wild animals” native to the Austin area. Accordingly, AWR provides sanctuary and care to “intelligences” ranging from abandoned baby squirrels to red-tailed hawks, wounded armadillos to starving raccoons, and the list goes on. Professionals and volunteers provide food, water, medication, wound cleaning, surgery, and physical therapy to needy animals. The most recent Animal Report for Austin Wildlife indicates that in 2021, care was extended to 9,489 orphaned and injured animals, including: 4,740 Mammals, 3,850 Songbirds, 121 Deer, and 1 Crustacean. Truly a wonderful record of caring, a wonderful local organization deserving of our attention.
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Linda Thompson is a lifelong Christian who grew up on a ranch and has a special relationship with the land. She is a member of the green team at First Baptist Church, Austin, TX., and a career librarian. These pieces were originally written for the First Baptist newsletter, April 2022.. See more of her writings here.
