In the last few days Wangari Maathai passed away at age 71 on September 26, 2011. She was an inspiration for millions and has significantly gained a place in history. Maathai was an environmentalist, a human rights activist, a women’s rights activist, and powerful voice in resisting corrupt governments and corporate manipulation. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. She is one of the twelve women in the hundred years of the prize and the only woman from an African country to receive the prize for peace initiatives.
As an environmentalist Wangari started the Green Belt Movement. The movement is responsible for planting more than thirty million trees in Kenya. The organization develops not only environmental action and grass root sustainable projects, but brings individuals from diverse tribal backgrounds together to build an inclusive community that each can share with their neighbor. She promotes in her book, Replenishing the Earth, key values of the Green Belt Movement: Love for the Environment, Gratitude and Respect for Earth’s Resources, Self-Empowerment, Self-Reliance, and the Spirit of Volunteerism.
Maathai has continually been a strong voice for human rights and women’s rights, and due to her strong stance she has been a target for her government throughout her life. She promotes democracy and anti-corruption, and for those in power she is a threat to the elite establishment. As a Nobel Prize recipient she has made a significant impact in the hearts and lives of those who have seen her voice penetrate society and culture even if she is held back with such cultural norms that try to silence educated women. She refused to be silent. Just because she was a woman, did not mean that she could not change history.
In comparison to President Barak Obama, who has recently accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, when he has proven in the last several years that he is not as honorable as many Americans want him to be, Wangari has maintained a continual stance on promoting freedom and protecting the innocence. In opposition, Obama’s newest push for additional use of drone weapons in a global market for industrial war has intensified global instability. Rather than activating peace, he has maintained false justifications for military intervention. For every drone flight that bombs the countryside in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, or the Horn of Africa, the innocent voices where bombs fall are eliminated and the environment remains depleted for future life due to the material contents of those bombs.
Wangari Maathai was not a vengeful person. She was a compassionate individual that did not believe her adversaries were inhuman enough that they could not be changed. These mere misguided voices due to greed and power’s corrupted nature need to be opposed with rational ethical conscience. She felt violence in all its forms was unnecessary and was the true enemy of peace. But she knew that active participation on the ground and in each individual’s life was highly important in changing the current crisis in society.
One of Wangari Maathai’s most beloved metaphors is the one about the hummingbird and the forest fire. While the forest was burning down, the hummingbird, who seemed to appear small and insignificant, found the courage to bring water one beak full at a time to the fire until the fire went out. We should all be our own hummingbird and find the courage to overcome the fire that threatens our local and global home. The lessons that Wangari Maathai have given to the world are ever more important in the 21st Century, and people will be reading about her life and learning from her long after she is gone. She will be missed.
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