The mudcubs were in their natural habit, the wild. They ran like the waters that gave them their names; Jamuna – ‘Holy River’ – in Asia, Imokalee, – Tumbling Water’ – in North America, Madzimoya – ‘Water of Life’ in Africa, Newlyn – ‘From the Fresh Spring’ – in Europe, Myuna – ‘Clear Water’ – in Australasia, and Yaku – ‘Water’ – in South America.
Each tended the habitats of the diverse continents knowing and encouraging the essence of each plant, creature and microbe to be expressed and to flourish, playing its part in the circle of life.
They lived independent of each other immersed in their own ecology of being until one fateful day brought them together.
Human beings were the most fretful, changeable and selfish of all the creatures on earth. At times it seemed their only purpose was to wreak havoc on the world. Their latest prank was to fire rockets high into the sky.
When God made the world the waters that were under the dome were separated from the waters that were above the dome and God called the dome Sky. Now humans were disturbing the balance of creation by sending rockets through that watery O zone surrounding the globe and tearing holes in the fabric of the sky.
The O zone is our layer of protection from the gleaming, glowing heat of the ball of fire that is the Sun. Pierced and torn, when that protective layer was breached the Sun’s rays penetrated further and deeper than ever had previously been possible. The irresponsibility of humans imperilled all creation as the heat from the Sun began to evaporate the water systems of the world and deplete its most necessary of resources.
Water ran through the veins of the mudcubs and they sensed immediately the peril facing the world they tended. Each could identify from the trouble in the waters the direction from which the breach and source of the evaporation they sensed was to be found.
Instantly they surfed their waters in search of that source. Their journeys were long and winding through different water courses and changing weather conditions. Some were buffeted by wind and storm while others moved across tranquil, calm and warming seas.
Their resolve eventually brought them together meeting at the confluence of their waters for the very first time knowing nothing of each other’s existence but sensing in their veins their shared watery origins and source.
In an eternal moment they stood silent attending to each to each before fingering hair and features, noting all that is natural and naturally found therein; mud, leaves, twigs, flowers, starfish. In that moment they knew their oneness with each other and with the Earth in all her wild nature.
In that moment of self-knowing they sang:
For surely, it’s in this TOGETHERNESS,
that we find what we need,
to do whatever it takes,
to heal our broken planet,
and so, to save our children’s future.
See them there, seven children, one from every continent on Earth, simply dressed in soft silk tulle. They hesitate in time, leaning forward, hopeful, poised to dive, eyes closed, dreaming into their future, anticipating things unseen: a little child shall lead. With trusting feet, plump and bare, to remind all of our duty of care to life, to love, to planet Earth. They stand together, peacefully, as friends, vulnerable and strong, silently singing out to us their call to change.
In that moment they come together, to embrace and in their embrace to form a circle and in that circle to exchange life and love forming a web of interplay and interconnection that grew beyond them an active – interactive – net of connections that when it connected with the tears in the O zone repaired and restored.
The holes made by rockets wilfully and harmfully fired healed and finally made wholly whole. In this renewed, restored world, the mudcubs stand together, symbols of hope, grace and defiance in the face of climate change, resilience in the face of all that the winds can throw at us, amid the havoc we humans wreak on the world.
Imagine them now, gracing our footsteps, quiet reminders of their duty of care. Imagine them now, rising from the waves off the shores of great cities, beacons of resolve, markers of commitment. Imagine them now calling out our playfulness, the lightness of touch that refreshes our work and our hopes with the heart of a child.
Imagine them, with us, singing their song:
For surely, it’s in this TOGETHERNESS,
that we find what we need,
to do whatever it takes,
to heal our broken planet,
and so, to save our children’s future.
Imagine a little child leading us to the heart of a child.
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Jonathan Evens
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