Page 36 - Dark Matter Women Witnessing

essential for the survival of all. Hierarchy of existence was not part of the way of

thinking. There was no entitlement. No mine and yours. As such, gratitude was

the currency of exchange. A gift was given, like tobacco or cornmeal, for the

plants harvested for food or clothing. Gratitude was offered to the animals,

insects, water consumed for the sustenance of the village. Rituals and ceremony

to celebrate gifts given—he lives offered for our nourishment and our

medicines—were essential to keep the balance of give and take. We lived in

relationship with and to each other. The result of not embracing this way of life is

evident everywhere—rampant pollution, alarming extinction rates, despoliation of

nature. Without conscious relationship— the core of kinship—life on Earth is

simply not sustainable.

As a physician of nearly 30 years, I see the dire health consequences of this

disregard for the Earth and all forms of life. I took an oath those many years ago

when I was just a young woman. It was one of the greatest days of my life--

surrounded by my classmates, witnessed by family and friends, my right hand

raised, in cap and gown with the green hood for Medicine proudly worn. I swore

to do no harm and preserve human life at all cost. But as I have learned over the

years, this promise is woefully limited. It did not ask me to consider the lives of

my kin beyond the human realm. It does not consider the consequences of

pharmaceutical and radiologic pollution for the Earth and all beings. It places

human need as supreme to everything else. It is based on the imperialist mores

of a society born out of domination and conquest.

When I was a first-year medical student, we were expected to participate in a

physiology lab using live dogs. The dogs were anesthetized and then dissected

to expose their beating hearts. Our educational responsibility was to administer

different medications intravenously and observe their effects on cardiac function.

At the end of the experiment, the dogs were euthanized. I was terribly upset

about the prospect of participating in this exercise. I spoke to my professor about

it privately and received a warning that an incomplete on my transcript might

keep me from continuing to progress in my studies. What could I do? My sole