Gabriel's Stand by Jay B. Gaskill

smiled politely when Mr. Farthwell took the podium. He was a mousy, aristocratic man with a penetrating, reedy voice, who had earned a reputation as a formidable environmental lawyer in spite of his charismatic deficit. This was a speech he had given many times recently.
    â€œAs many of you know,” he said, “more and more people have begun to talk about the earth as a living organism named Gaia for the Greek earth goddess. As we destroy the earth’s ecology, Gaia consciousness has awakened as a powerful political force…and not one second too soon. Many farsighted leaders have joined forces to save the earth, to rescue Gaia…among them Native American leaders like your own Helen Snowfeather Lindstrom.”
    The room erupted in spontaneous applause. Snowfeather beamed.
    â€œI’d like to get to know this remarkable young woman. I suspect our movement will be seeing a lot more of her. I was told that Helen Snowfeather Lindstrom may well be the most important figure in student politics in a generation. You know what? I think I agree.” More applause followed.
    â€œGaia now stands for the idea that the earth is an actual living being. Suppose, just for a moment, that we take that idea seriously. Think about the implications! How deeply we have injured Gaia. How Ms. Lindstrom’s aboriginal ancestors would weep at what we have done to her.
    â€œI see a revolution in the making here. Gaia, the Mother Earth of myth and legend, asks us to save her. This is a call we should all be proud to heed. Causes like this come our way only once in a few generations. Why not get on board? I say, why not?” The room erupted into sustained applause.
    Snowfeather listened while Farthwell speculated about world disease and catastrophic global climate change as Gaia’s revenge for extreme overpopulation. No one laughed at these ruminations. Before this audience, this man, proponent of a notion that would have been widely ridiculed in an earlier time, was hailed as one of the heroes of his generation.
    Wow , Snowfeather thought. There is more energy here than at any of Dad’s political meetings. This is energy that can be harnessed for the cause. This Gaia movement goes way beyond Dad’s small-bore environmentalism, the traditional more trees, and fewer smokestacks. Maybe it takes something really extreme to get people out of their complacency…
    Could I ride this horse?
    Farthwell finished his remarks early and gave Snowfeather another generous introduction. Snowfeather smiled and moved smoothly to the rostrum as easily as if she were in her own living room in Idaho.
    â€œThank you, Mr. Farthwell. And my thanks to the University Club and the Gaia Foundation for inviting me,” she said. “Our Texan friends still talk about the Alamo. How many of us still remember that sickening ecological catastrophe on the Australian coast?” A number of hands went up. “The Tong shipping company lives forever in infamy! Now, may I say a word about the ecological catastrophe if we don’t stop S&S Shipping from poisoning the Pacific Ocean?” She paused, as the room erupted in enthusiastic applause. “Okay,” she said over the din, “I will.” More applause and cheers followed. Snowfeather grinned in acknowledgment; then her face became solemn. Snowfeather’s sense of audience was pitch-perfect.
    â€œLegend tells us that Chief Seattle gave a remarkable speech 200 years ago. Some say he had a ghost writer. I can’t believe that. I know these words were in his heart. This is what Seattle said to the ages:
    â€œâ€˜This we know: The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny. One thing we know, which the