Everything is connected

BY ANTHONY GATHAMBIRI

Our earth is a home for everything that exists. She harbours us. We damage ourselves when we mishandle mother earth, who feeds us just as a mother would feed her baby. We are the babies of this lovely mother, relying on her in everything.

Our actions, right from leaving a water tap to run and throwing glass bottles on to the road to driving high-consuming cars and our consumerist habits contribute to the “eco-mess” we are in. We seem not to see the connection between nature and human ecology. Our lifestyles blind us from seeing this connection. By damaging the earth, we damage ourselves.

My pen might go dry as try I to belabour the point that everything on earth is connected. Instead, maybe a story will do better. It is from Nigeria by Princess Ayo, an excellent African story teller.

A long time ago there was a chief who was called the Yes Sir chief because everyone in his court said “yes sir” to everything he said.

On this particular day there was a problem, and he called the council together, and everybody hustled in to the correct chamber.

The Yes Sir chief sat on his thrown and said: “I have a problem, and I want a solution. You are my great wise men, called to advise me what to do.”

The council nodded and said: “Yes, sir.”

The chief said: “I have been unable to sleep for at least several weeks now, and it’s getting on my nerves.”

“Oh, your highness, what could be the problem?” the servants asked. He said: “Frogs.” “Frogs?” the servants asked.

“Yes frogs,” the Yes Sir chief responded. “Don’t you all hear all these frogs? They are making the loudest noise. All night long these frogs are singing and I can’t sleep. Something must be done. I want there to be an edict sent out to all the land, and I want all the frogs killed and then maybe I can get some sleep.”

All the wise men said: “Yes, sir”.

That is, all the wise men except one. There was one wise man in the council, and he always sat to the side and a little bit to the back. And he always sat there looking at the chief.

While everyone solemnly said “yes”, he seemed unhappy with the decision.

The chief noticed the man, and was irritated with him. “There you are, everyone is telling me, yes sir, I am right—but you are seated right there. What do you have to say?”

The wise man said: “Chief, everything is connected.”

The Yes Sir chief yelled at him: “What does that mean, ‘everything is connected’? Oh, ridiculous! Everyone go out and make sure to get out all those frogs in the village so that I can have a sleep. Terminate them all.” And surely they did.

They eventually got rid of every frog in the village. And finally the chief could sleep. And he slept soundly, for days and days, and weeks and weeks and months and months.

One day, the king was sitting in his court and mosquitos attacked him everywhere. He was slapping himself all over the body to kill the mosquitos.

Realising what had happened—there were no more frog to eat mosquitos—he quickly called a meeting. He said to his council: “You idiots! I asked you to get rid of the frogs and no one told me what would happen if I did, and now these mosquitos are killing us, how can you stand it?” And everyone was slapping themselves and trying to kill the mosquitos.

The Yes Sir chief looked to the side and saw the one wise man who hadn’t agreed with him. The chief said to him  “What do you have to say? You could have helped us, you could have saved us!”

The wise man looked at the chief and said: “Your Highness, everything is connected.”