Alex Soto

So, I’ve been thinking for some time what topic would be good to share with you all.  Then it hit me, our relationship with Earth!

So as a kid growing up the woods were my sanctuary, every time I was outside in Nature I felt at peace.  I was taken care of, even though everything around me seemed to be chaotic.  Like many urban kids, I had fears of the woods, creepy crawlers, bug bites, snakes.  But the funny thing was that every time I was outside the fear would go away little by little.  It would become normal to have something crawling up my arm or leg.

I have an interesting story to share about my encounter with bee’s.  I had a big fear of them because if you were bit by one you knew it would hurt like hell!  I was with a bunch of kids roaming the woods, exploring and messing around.  It was a warm sunny day and the earth was extremely moist because it had rained the night before.  It was giving off this incredible earth scent as we looked for newts and garter snakes and worms.  We were deep in the woods in the back of my neighborhood park on 189 street.  I knew this park with my eyes closed and also have seen things in the park that I should’ve kept my eyes closed.  I was around 11 years old and I believe I was one of the younger ones in the group.  Some of the kids we were with, were known to be trouble makers.  But somehow, they seem to be cool for the moment, more later on that.

We had been hiking around and going off the path a lot and getting dirty.  We decided to start hiking out so whoever was leading started making his own path up a steep hill.  I was never up front because I was a chubby kid, so I lacked the stamina of most of the other kids.  But that never deterred me from going out and playing or competing.   As we started to ascend the climb began to get harder because it was really muddy, and everyone kept sliding around.  But the front runner was still pushing through.  I recall some commotion and arguing but since I was in the back I couldn’t see or hear exactly what the problem was.  I paused for a second and then I started to hear panic up front, but still confused I kept trekking up.  All of a sudden, I noticed bee’s flying around my head, not just one but a few.  I quickly started to make my way up, at this point I started to get bitten by a swarm of bees!  I was in agony and losing my grip, the kids in the front started running.  I was doing my best to get out and I knew that going back down wasn’t an option.  At one point, I was screaming and crying so much because the bee’s where in my hair.  All I can feel was bumps all over my head and face.  They were in full defend mode, but I kept pushing forward.  I was so out of breath and in so much pain that out of nowhere a man jumped in and dragged me out of the woods.  He was as well getting bit and I could hear him curse the bees with every sting.  He finally managed to get me to the top, where he was washing his car next to a fire hydrant.  He put my head under the water, then all of a sudden, the bee’s started to attack us by his car.  He told us to run home as fast as we could, I’m not sure where my strength came from but somehow, I managed to get myself to my grandmother’s house.

When I walked into the house I was screaming and crying in pain (especially my head).  My grandmother jumped up and took me to the bathroom.  Dis-clothed me and threw me in the tub and started to remove all the dead bees.  After the whole ordeal was done I had over 60 bites on my body, my head taking almost 20 of them.  I would not be able to comb my hair for at least a week until the swelling went down.  My grandmother who knew how to work with the earth and all sorts of herbs, began working and rubbing plant medicine in my body and head.  Both her and my grandfather showered me with love, but they were also pissed that I managed to get so many bites.  So, you’re all probably wondering what happen and how the hell did the bee’s get so pissed?  The kids up front found the beehive but weren’t sure what it was, so they investigated by throwing a large object at it!!!!  Most of the kids in the front only came away from the whole incident with about 1-4 bites but I was the one that received the grunt of how pissed they were.

After that incident I feared bee’s so much that it was just stupid.  I wondered what did I do or better yet what was my lesson here?  How did I piss off mother earth so much that I needed to be taught a lesson?  Then I started to look back at the whole experience and the significance of bee’s in our lives.  How important they are to us and the earth!  From that day forward it took me some time, but I started to build that relationship with nature and started to understand that it should be nurtured and protected.

This is where I am now, how do I get people out doors and re-build their connection to the earth?  There are many great people out there doing the same work but differently.  I found my way back to Nature in a way that is so gentle and extremely healing.  You see in today society people are so busy to do one of the most important things, self care.  Of course, them we have corporate greed that has also effectively been draining earth’s resources for profit.  Our ancestors taught us to take only that what we need (resources), but we must nurture and tend to the land in return.  We lost that connection, the old school ways and in that lost we lost ourselves in the process, because we are not separate from the earth, we are the earth.

Ok, enough of my rambling and I hope that somehow, I made my point of how important it is for us to get out and re-connect to earth.  There was a time when we were kids that we just loved to be outdoors and enjoy a good day in nature.  That’s where we need to be, so there is work to be done and this is how I’m making my mark.  Take the time and ask yourself how can I repair my relationship with mother earth?  The message is there, it’s a knowing within you.  Aho!