If we cannot connect with each other beyond the political chicanery and sheer idiocy of those who rule over us at this stage in our evolution, we will not grasp the urgency of our collective situation in any way that will matter. There is no national anthem, colourful flag, marching army or well worded propaganda that will stop the oceans from warming, the coral from dying, the seas from rising and drowning our cities, the fields from going barren, the people moving in enormous masses for survival, the forests from burning and countless species from going extinct.

That we still court war as any solution in this era of biospheric catastrophe speaks to our fatal disconnection from this earth and to each other. Do we dare deny the impermanence of our existence? Do we dare think we are beyond the warm embrace of the other?

Photo is of a young couple sharing an embrace at a train station in Kyiv following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The photographer is Daniel Leal for AFP.

Kenn Orphan. February 2022