In the End

In the End

By Jocelyn Rivera, 

Summer 2017

This first image spoke to me. 

It evoked the feeling that I was looking deeply into the soul which contained the universe. This "soul" was wearing earth's sky as clothing in all the loveliness that this beautiful planet holds within its' atmosphere. 

The remixed picture on the right depicts the soul that has been taught to love the earth in all of its' diversity - from the ocean shore where many learn to first love the water, waves and ocean creatures. To depths of the ocean where many discoveries await the brave and curious. To earth's ordinary - the small school garden where children frolic and play and where nature finds its' sustenance, the nectar of the flowers and where the garden produces food for the body, the carrots - and for the mind - understanding life cycles of plants and insects. 

The silhouette, the "soul" appears to be a young person. The young are our hope. They can, imagine, create, explore, preserve, conserve and turn the tide to help heal our planet.

From the words of a Senegalese sage:

"In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught." (Baba Dioum, 1968).

Remixed by Jocelyn Rivera

Original image citation: The Oprah Magazine, November 2015, Volume 16, Number 11. Illustration by Silja Gotz. Portrait by Chad Griffith.