In creating this month’s issue around the theme of Working Together to rewrite the world’s story and contemplating contributing articles such as Linda Sechrist’s “Animal Chiropractic” and Avery Mack’s “Greenhouse Magic,” it dawned on me that working together goes beyond people collaborating with other people. Working together encompasses cooperation with all creation, including environmental elements and living beings from the infinitesimal to the infinite.

It makes sense that when we come together to improve current situations and conditions adversely affecting people and our planet, it’s essential that we consider all parties involved. From the majestic trees and bountiful green plants that provide us oxygen to ocean food habitats and freshwater supplies essential to life to animals large and small that keep our ecosystems balanced, all are essential to life as we know it.

Technology today shrinks time and space in many beneficial ways.  It can also be perverted to provide tyrants with a means of unprecedented destruction, sometimes just at the push of a button. This, too, makes our need to work together and rewrite Earth’s story more critical than ever before.

My personal belief continues to be that helpful changes usually start small. One of my favorite morphs is being kind on a daily basis—to all those around us, including those with different beliefs, opinions, lifestyles and ideologies. Yes, this often requires conscious effort, but it starts in our thinking and gets easier with practice. We might improve our outlook starting with baby steps like being more tolerant, accepting or compassionate, any of which leads to improved understanding.

I know that in my own life, when I focus on an individual instead of a faceless group in order to understand something or someone better, the innate fear of the unknown begins to melt away. Usually, when I see another a bit more clearly we can find some point of common cause.  It feels good to add this glimmer of light to the world.

In peace and health,

Pat Vacanti, Co-Publisher