A message of hope? A forgotten treasure?
I am reading E.O. Wilson’s Half-Earth, his third in a series about our planet’s human and natural history. It is a sobering account of what humans have done, and a strident plea for a last-ditch effort to save all life on earth. His treatise says we must put aside one half of the earth’s landscape in order to support enough biodiversity for life to go on. He is a voice of reason, fact and hope, but I find it difficult to believe that the majority of human beings will care enough to actually do that.
Overcome by the printed matter and the state of global politics, I had a good cry.
Then I turned the page. There was something greenish near the top of the text, maybe an illustration? I touched it and it moved. No, it was not printed. It was left by a previous borrower of this library edition. Pressed flat and preserved for me to find.
A four-leaf clover?
It stopped me in my tracks. Was this left for the next reader, to nudge me out of my gloom and doom? “All hope is not lost,” it seemed to say. Wilson himself writes that there is still time for us to achieve his vision, if we act quickly.
Should I keep the clover, or leave it for the next reader? I will leave it.
There are forces at work here that I can’t explain.
Natural Views 
Yes, leave the 4-leaf clover for the next reader. Hope always helps to sustain us.
LikeLike
Yes, thanks. It’s all we can do!
LikeLike
As you say, worry or optimism – which way to go?
It’s a prevalent view that we think we are at the frontier, on a narrow ledge, the open, unimagined future ahead of us. But if we are in the bosom of nature, and all our shouts and screams, worries and efforts, are contained within nature – then we can be optimistic that we are not alone in trying to bring a better consciousness to the world. Give nature a chance and it will guide us.
LikeLike
Ah, yes, such synchronicity blows one’s mind, I agree! Has happened to me a lot throughout my life.
I too very highly doubt humans would accept such “sharing,” but the clover bit sounds like a lovely, creative gesture.
I too so despair of the state of our planet, of the obvious ever-moving-onwards quality of the climate crisis, of species extinction galore — but what a nice image the four-leaf clover can give and has imbued in you.
I say embrace such moments — and thanks for sharing as you have about it. 🍀
LikeLike