The past few weeks of my life have been pivotal. The International Extinction Rebellion protests are the beginning of a global shift toward the changes we need to make to avoid ecological and climate disaster. I feel empowered after being part of the protests in London. I am committed to do all I can. Below are some words my Mum wrote today and I wanted to share them with you.
KEEP CALM but ACT NOW
"I have been with children all my working life. Originally as a teacher of art and most recently as a Play Therapist. Over the years I have come to really respect and admire how the young human, given the right conditions, has the capacity to overcome adversities and positively re-frame their experiences and find optimism. I have come to understand that when we are young, we see the world with eyes focused on different perspectives and that those perspectives are no less relevant and necessary as those the adult world has us focus on.
And now appearing as heralds of this century are Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai, brave young women – girls- who face the adults and tell them they are wrong:- War is not inevitable, hate and fear are destructive and can be overcome, the climate is changing and time is running out, our seas are full of plastic our rivers full of PFA chemicals which have infiltrated the majority of humans bodies, and it has to CHANGE NOW!. Do we know the message they desperately want the ‘big people’ to hear is true? Can we dismiss what they are saying as the idealism of youth? We the big people can choose to ignore what these young people are screaming, we can criticise the skivers and call the Climate Change demonstrations irrelevant. We can retreat into our small life bubbles and keep ordering stuff from Amazon and making everything water proof and germ free. Cause and effect, consequences ? Ha! We the big people can keep calm and carry on. ‘That’s the spirit.’
And now appearing as heralds of this century are Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai, brave young women – girls- who face the adults and tell them they are wrong:- War is not inevitable, hate and fear are destructive and can be overcome, the climate is changing and time is running out, our seas are full of plastic our rivers full of PFA chemicals which have infiltrated the majority of humans bodies, and it has to CHANGE NOW!. Do we know the message they desperately want the ‘big people’ to hear is true? Can we dismiss what they are saying as the idealism of youth? We the big people can choose to ignore what these young people are screaming, we can criticise the skivers and call the Climate Change demonstrations irrelevant. We can retreat into our small life bubbles and keep ordering stuff from Amazon and making everything water proof and germ free. Cause and effect, consequences ? Ha! We the big people can keep calm and carry on. ‘That’s the spirit.’
I work with children who are struggling with the world the adults in their life have created. Most children referred are operating with heightened stress responses of Fight or Flight or Freeze – sometimes all three. The majority have found life so far, an unhappy place where tension, anxiety and fear have dominated and there is very little joy to be found. Parents struggle to juggle work, money, buying stuff and meeting their own emotional needs, let alone those of their children. As a Play Therapist I learned to follow the Axline Principles*, I have been trained to respect the child’s ability to solve her own problems. I have come to realise that the adults most important role in a child’s life is to keep them safe, to allow them space to explore and be curious, to listen and to attune to their perspective. I have learned that children will follow the role models the adults present because adults are the guides, the problem our world may have is that the adults are actually big children masquerading as Grown Up. The wisdom of the Elder is the brainwashing of the Conman and it seems that time is up on that, these demonstrators are shouting loud and clear ‘the Emperor has no clothes’.
The Children of Climate Change see through the veils of consumer lust to the reality of pointless consumerism. Our species desire for more and more stuff is way off balance. What began as reasonable desire to make life more comfortable has become an obscene grasping for more, greed is definitely NOT good when it means we choose profit over people and profit over safeguarding the very thing which gives us life; the earth. Where do we think our waste goes?
So, what am I going to do? How am I going to acknowledge I have listened to them that I do care and I do want them to enjoy a natural world which I enjoyed as a child. I want my grandchildren to swim in rivers, walk through meadows buzzing with life, eat fresh food grown in a garden. Yes, it’s still visible now isn’t it, we can go for a walk in the woods, gaze at landscape vistas in foreign lands, yes Mother Earth is still there but she has been abused by us. #metoo the Great Mother cries.
What am I going to do? What part can I play in healing the damage we have done to the earth? How can I adapt change? I drive a car, I drive many miles in a year because of my work, I love driving actually, I love travelling to other parts of the world. Do I invest in an electric car? Can I afford one? Where will the electricity come from? Can I travel by bus and train with all my equipment? Ah… the excuses are already filling my head… yes, I want to make things easy, I want to have to make less effort not more. All our modern advances aim to make life easier and yet on reflection wouldn’t it be easier to live a simple hunter gatherer life style with a small amount of veg growing – hippy nonsense! It’s easier to wake at 5am and join the south circular traffic jam spend 8 hours making lots of money for someone else and just enough for yourself and huddle back in the traffic fumes to the pub gasping for the drink at the end of the day to lull you into a sense of satisfaction? Another day done, roll on the holiday.
I think because I grew up close to the natural world and felt a deep connection with my friends the woodlouse, the oak tree, the flowers ( a fanciful child ) I have yearned for that world perspective throughout my adult years. But my awareness really shifted when I heard Malala speak. Why is the power to make decisions given solely to adults? The bravery of this young woman and the authenticity of her words were tangible. She spoke the truth. I remember when I was about 7years and the troubles in Ireland raged I raged at the imbecility of the adults. I saw children like me being forced to live in fear and I wanted it to stop I fantasied that a child could be heard and could make the stupid adults stop their hatred.
Now the child voice is being heard. Malala began the shift and now Greta with her steely determined anger speaks to the ‘big people’ with bold truths. Michael Gove will meet her thinking he is the grown-up. He will patronise and do nothing. He probably has personal investments to consider, stocks and shares, houses to maintain, money to be made never mind his role as government to protect the interests of the super rich which keep the ball rolling. The dismantling of consumer capitalism is definitely off the table. We shall see how that meeting goes but I pretty darn know that Greta Thunberg is not for turning.
I still don’t know what I am going to do though. But I understand that it is healing the earth that needs to be the priority, the undeniable truth and so I will have to make changes. My life will have to become different. I am going to have to adapt. Will I be adapting to a barren world in which soaring heat and drought forces my fellow humans to flee their land in search of water? Will I too find I am adapting to queuing at a food bank? Will my grandchildren retreat into virtual realities where they can exist as avatars in a green land or one in which the fear and hatred is maintained in glorious technicolor? Must we have enemies? Carl Jung said that our biggest enemy is our own Shadow. We must first face our own negativity and stop blaming others. So today I start with me and my own self- awareness. I will avoid buying stuff I don’t need. I will make do and mend and look for ways to re-use and recycle what I do consume. I will strive to adapt to be part of the movement towards humanity that care-takes rather than abuses our natural resources.
It is our children’s future and they deserve to enjoy the diversity and richness of this beautiful planet, they deserve to have life. I am accountable. "
Kate Macairt ; Play Therapist, Sand tray Therapist, Trainer
www.creativesparktraining.co.uk
*The Axline Principles;
Therapist develops a warm, friendly relationship with the child
Therapist accepts child exactly as he is
Therapist establishes a feeling of permissiveness in the relationship so the child feels free to express his feelings
Therapist is alert to recognise the feelings the child is expressing and reflects those feelings back to him in such a manner as he gains insight into his behaviour
I still don’t know what I am going to do though. But I understand that it is healing the earth that needs to be the priority, the undeniable truth and so I will have to make changes. My life will have to become different. I am going to have to adapt. Will I be adapting to a barren world in which soaring heat and drought forces my fellow humans to flee their land in search of water? Will I too find I am adapting to queuing at a food bank? Will my grandchildren retreat into virtual realities where they can exist as avatars in a green land or one in which the fear and hatred is maintained in glorious technicolor? Must we have enemies? Carl Jung said that our biggest enemy is our own Shadow. We must first face our own negativity and stop blaming others. So today I start with me and my own self- awareness. I will avoid buying stuff I don’t need. I will make do and mend and look for ways to re-use and recycle what I do consume. I will strive to adapt to be part of the movement towards humanity that care-takes rather than abuses our natural resources.
It is our children’s future and they deserve to enjoy the diversity and richness of this beautiful planet, they deserve to have life. I am accountable. "
Kate Macairt ; Play Therapist, Sand tray Therapist, Trainer
www.creativesparktraining.co.uk
*The Axline Principles;
Therapist develops a warm, friendly relationship with the child
Therapist accepts child exactly as he is
Therapist establishes a feeling of permissiveness in the relationship so the child feels free to express his feelings
Therapist is alert to recognise the feelings the child is expressing and reflects those feelings back to him in such a manner as he gains insight into his behaviour
