FEATURED JOBS
I saw a dirty movie last night.
Really. It is a movie about dirt, and is appropriately called Dirt.
It is a must-see, humorous, informative, and inspiring reminder of how awesome is this precious world of ours.
(It is free on-line, too, through Hulu and other video sites. Invite some friends over, turn down the lights, and turn up the sound.)
It reminds us of the essential role played by that humble stuff we step on, sweep away, pave over, push around and otherwise derisively call, a la Mary Douglas, stuff-out-of-place. Dirt is the word we tend to use for the stuff we don’t want, that messes things up, that we want to wash off.
And yet, Dirt, soil, humus, adamah, is the stuff we are all made from. The first human, we all know, according to Torah, was called Adam, for he was made from adamah. And it is the stuff that grows the things that give us food, organic materials, shade, medicines, oxygen and much more.
We might as well say Dirt is Us. It is so simple and ubiquitous and yet so complex and increasingly rare.
It is - along with water - the single most unique ingredient of earth that allows the chemistry of our planet to mix with our abundant sunlight and give birth to life.
There is no life without healthy soil. So, while we do not need to fetishize it, or take it home in a jar or make it our pet, we do need to appreciate it, understand it, be in awe of it, and most of all protect and nourish it so that it can in turn protect and nourish us.
Watch the movie. Share it with your friends. And even if you leave the dirt outside, bring the message home.
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