Thursday 7 June 2012

Flying over Madagascar


Flying over the wide expanse of Madagascar, thought it a poignant time to write a blog.



There are scattered clouds below me creating freckle like shadows on the reddish rock. I find it much easier to reflect up here and in a way enables you to have a birds’ eye view of things, an opportunity to look at the bigger picture.

Learning about this incredible place has been inspiring. It’s a mixture between magical and tragic.

Madagascar is the most bio-diverse place on the planet. The areas left are teeming with life. The bush hums with the noise of thousands of little mouths, in all shapes and sizes. The hum just magnifies the chilling silence of the endless emptiness around it. 90% of Madagascar’s forests have been destroyed due to logging and slash and burn agriculture. In between the vein-like channels of trees below me are endless fields of crops. Like giant circuit boards feeding energy to the local inhabitants.

There are three types of people on the planet; thinkers, doers and those that do both. I myself have always been a thinker, but recently I have become a doer too and it is amazing what you can get done. Up here above scattered clouds below, I can see that with passion and a little dedication we can make this planet the success story of the universe, not a tragedy. Find whatever it is in life that inspires you, store it in a place in your heart and use it for energy. Madagascar is one of a million places in peril. But those million places are all one. We have one home.



It makes me think; how can we co-exist with our magnificent world and still survive? In fact we can only survive if we co-exist harmoniously with her. Seeing how invasive species of plants here take over everything with no regard for its fellow plant reminds me of another species! But we have a choice of how we act. Humans can be incredibly destructive but we also have the power to help things thrive. Each and every one of us has a responsibility to help - it is a wonderful experience learning about the planet in the process.

Someone once told me what comes from the heart goes to the heart and all the rest is funny noises. Well this is from my heart. I believe there is an incredible person in each and every one of us. Be the best you can be and make a positive difference.