Relation...!

And in that prophecy, she told me that it tells of a day that will come where an ounce of water costs more than an ounce of gold. When she told me that prophecy, I sat for a moment, and I thought about all of the injustices we see in our world today, the water crises we see in our world today, and I said, "Nokomis, Grandmother, I feel like we are already in that time of prophecy." And she looked back at me directly, and she said, "So what are you going to do about it?"

You see, I imagine a world where we value water as a living relation, where we work to restore our connection to water. As women, we are water carriers. We nurture water in our wombs for nine months. It's the first medicine that each of us as human beings is exposed to. See, we are all born as human beings with a natal connection to water, but somewhere along the way, we lost that connection, and we have to work to restore it. Because I imagine a world in which water is healthy and ecosystems are thriving. I imagine a world where each of us takes up our right of responsibility as water citizens and protects water.

But most of all, if you do anything, I ask that you make a promise to yourself, that each day, you will ask, "What have I done for the water today?" If we are able to fulfill that promise, I believe we can create a bold and brilliant world where future generations are able to form the same relationship to water that we have been privileged to have, where all communities of human and nonhuman relations have water to live, because water is life.