Dominant colonizer society must hold essentials of life as sacred

The dominant colonizer society is blinded by the insatiable desire to hold the “Almighty dollar” as sacred. As has been said by others, “When you find yourself in a hole, you stop digging.”

Newcomers are so deeply dug down using the spade of exploitation that the light of reason and the ability to live harmoniously with our Natural World, the world that we as Indigenous peoples call “Mother Earth,” is leaving the entire planet in a dark hole.

One day Newcomers will realize that this tiny blue marble floating aimlessly through the universe, has finite resources. Until that day arrives, Newcomers will continue in reckless abandon with the mantra of “Too much is never enough.”

Instead of living in concert with our environment that has the ability to provide the essentials of life, water is not fit to drink, air is toxic in many high population areas, animals are caged while being fed growth hormones and antibiotics, plants are sprayed with chemicals, vast forests are clear cut then modified not for diversity, but for monoculture (not unlike targeted populations), cancer cases are skyrocketing, billionaires are more numerous, unhoused people are increasing, the world’s oceans are being polluted with plastics while fish populations are decimated etc., etc. all in the name of “Progress.”

Instead of looking back, taking heed and making course corrections, the digging continues with the insistence that more electric power generation capacity is needed to fuel industry with the excuse that more jobs are needed, more houses need to be built all while ignoring the simple task of improving what has already been established and assessing the damage done.

The steam roller just gets bigger, goes faster with no brakes as damage continues unabated.

The obvious is that a “Big Reset” is necessary, and the word “Need” requires a new definition.

Needed is clean water, nourishing food and healthy air. Every public and private institution needs to make the aforementioned a priority and base decisions to that end.

The dominant colonizer society needs to hold the essentials of life as sacred, not the stock price to satisfy investors who hold the so-called “Almighty Dollar” as sacred. The dollar, the root of all evil, rearing its ugly head for all to see. Will we allow light to illuminate the hole and admit the ugly head exists?

Life as we know it, or have known it, depends on it.

William Eric Altvater lives in Peskotomuhkati Nation territory in Maine and stands shoulder to shoulder with his Peskotomuhkati relations in New Brunswick in the struggle to achieve Canadian government recognition.