A Rallying Cry: From One Mom Against Fracking to Many

An amazing thing is happening.   All over North America, and in fact, all over the world an astounding set of events is unfolding.  Ordinary people are rising up against what's wrong in this world and they are rising up with noble hearts and steel in their spines.   Yes, folks this is happening in YOUR  community and mine, in your back yard and down the street, in shopping malls, and barber shops. 

There is a movement afoot - a movement that is democracy in action, at its core and full-blown.   And although it is Democracy at its best, it is not however, diplomacy - it refuses to tiptoe around the issues that beset us, the dangers that threaten us at our very doorsteps, it refuses to 'whitewash' or "greenwash" the facts, it refuses to back down or bow out.    It refuses to euphemize the truth until it is unrecognizable from a lie.  It refuses to talk about "gray" areas when the writing is on the wall for all to see in black and white.   It is a voice that will be heard in the hallowed halls of government, from the Town Hall to the Offices of Prime Ministers and Presidents.   FOR IT IS THE TRUE VOICE OF DEMOCRACY - it is the voice of the people - and it won't be quelled!

Mothers have become a part of this "voice" - mothers in Erie, Colorado who fight to keep shale gas industry, a.k.a. "fracking" out of the schoolyards where their children play and whose children breathe the very air that may one day, in the not too distant future, become laced with cancer-causing benzene from the "fracking" industry that stands to profit handsomely from it. 

Mothers and Fathers can be found all over North America who will continue to fight for their children's well-being and a future bright with hope.  Calvin Tillman the father of two young boys is another one of those parents who will not back down from the fight.   His children suffered health problems in the tiny Town of Dish, Texas - a Town surrounded by Gas Wells.   Mr. Tillman, now the former Mayor of the Town, continues to fight the unreasonable demands that the Industry places on Communities, Families and children's health.   The demands of the Industry  insist that you breathe benzene-laced air, quench your thirst with industry-tainted water and raise your children in the cesspool of toxic waste and human misery that Frack Industry leaves behind.

Another community of Mothers and Fathers and Grandparents are taking the lead to keep Shale Gas from threatening the health and lives of their children - and that is the Community of Wales, New York where Grandmothers and Grandfathers are leading the charge to stop plans to turn the Sgt. Mark A. Rademacher Memorial Park into a Shale Gas Industrial Zone of Compressor Stations.

We could examine every scientific fact -  pro and con -  surrounding the Fracking Industry, but as Parents and Grandparents, only one scientific fact is important to us - and that is the finding that children are more susceptible to toxins  and  to damage by air pollution due to the physiological differences between them and adults (Mt. Sinai Children's Environmental Clinic). This finding is the single most important fact concerning Shale Gas Fracking Industry. It is the one thing that occupies my mind when I get up in the morning and when I go to bed at night. This one fact tells me that whatever we as adults suffer at the hands of Fracking Industry - our precious children will suffer immeasurably more.

In an Industry where fully-grown lies appear more and more to masquerade as 'truth' - the Mothers and Fathers, indeed the Grandparents of Erie, CO and the Right to Farm Community in Wales, New York, and the folks in the tiny Town of Dish, Texas do not sit idly by and will not stand for a shabby counterfeit of the truth. These Mothers and Fathers and Grandparents fight for our children, our next generation with everything in their being and they are not about to stop.

While all of these Parents and Grandparents fear for their children's and grandchildren's health, they do not fear Oil and Gas Companies, for there is nothing too fearsome to face for a Mother or Father in the protection of their young. There is a drive, an instinct, that unmistakable warning signal that alerts them of dangers to their children.  We call it Mother's Instinct but the truth is that Father's too possess this wonderful trait.  Nature gives clear example of how a mother will defend her young.  Mothers in the wild such as polar bear mothers have been known to fight to the death to defend the life of their young bear cubs.

 A human mother (or father) becomes completely fearless in the face of danger where that danger concerns her/his  helpless offspring.   A threat to their child becomes the flashpoint - the point of no return - the point where the mother's one goal - her single-minded and sole focus is to remove all threat to her child - her beloved son or daughter.

When danger threatens - mothers can be counted on for several things - a Mother will possess an astonishingly razor-sharp mind completely focused on the eradication of danger, instantly equipped to face and neutralize the danger that threatens her child to the extent that her own well-being is no longer of any consequence.  A Mother will become the immovable, unstoppable force - a line drawn in the sand THAT YOU WILL NOT CROSS! - a force greater than any other on earth! 

It is our Raison D'etre - our Reason for Being - as Mothers - to defend our Children from any and all threats and we join with the Parents and Grandparents of Erie, Colorado along with the Parents and Grandparents of the Community of Wales, New York and with Fathers like Calvin Tillman who have fought the good fight in Dish Texas - we stand in solidarity with you in defence of your children.

Mothers - WE ARE the Leading Edge! -  the Unstoppable Force - the Immovable Obstacle rising up in our Communities and Community Centers, our Towns and in our Town Halls, our Villages and Recreation Centers, in our Cities, our Daycare Centers and Nursery Schools, our Elementary, Middle Schools, Junior and High Schools, on the Schoolyard and off, at Soccer Matches, in Football Fields and Baseball Diamonds, in our Churches and at our Places of Work  - in the United States AND Canada

....to defend and protect OUR CHILDREN from the threat of Shale Gas Industry  - in defence of  our children's health and their lives - their very future!  THIS IS OUR SOLEMN DUTY AND OUR GOD-GIVEN RIGHT AND OUR BELOVED PRIVILEGE AS PARENTS! 

WE arE mothers

and we WILL TAKE ON ALL COMERs!

Will YOU join the Fight to Protect Our Children? 

and Stand with

Moms (and ALL Parents) Against Fracking?

(Parents Against Everyday Poisons - copyright 2012)

There is no fear in love.

But perfect love drives out fear.

1 John 4:18 NIV

New International Version