Reading a recent post on Rob Hopkin’s blog-Transition Culture – I was struck by how readers commented on the feeling – and importance of – finding your home. One person had heard stories of the Isle of Skye in Scotland from his mother but never visited. When he went there with her he had that overwhelming sense of home.
Maybe that is one of the appealing things about the Transition Culture – that it is about creating a wonderful, human, sustainable, safe and resilient home for ourselves.
I was reminded of a story about the guy who went and asked a schoolteacher how they teach the concept of living sustainability. The teacher replied” we don’t have to: it is already part of being human – if children live in a sustainable community they learn from being part of it.” “But surely,” the visitor said, “they must learn about how to garden and stuff”. The school teacher replied, “In this modern world the children can’t learn it because it does not offer the opportunities for them to get involved.”
The school teacher then took the visitor into a room and showed him a wall. “Look at this.” He pointed, “this shows you that children innately understand how to live in harmony with the earth”.
The visitor looked puzzled; ”but all I see is kids’ drawings”. “Look – what do you see in the drawings?” The visitor studied the drawings…” Well, I see houses, water, sun, rain, animals, people together, pets, things growing….” The teacher smiled and nodded, “that’s it… what you see is what THEY see. They see it all working together they have that to start with, they just need to be part of realising it in practice. They are drawing their HOME.”