On Ash Wednesday, we place ashes on our foreheads and say:
Remember that you are dust
And to dust you shall return.
Ashes. Dust. Different things. But we all get the concept.
With dust, we have the presence of life—a living biome exists in it. Ashes, on the other hand, are char; burned dead leaves. They also rejuvenate the soil.
In farming circles, dirt and soil are similar.
Dirt is the lifeless remainder while soil is where a whole ecosystem lives on the surface of the planet.
I once was criticized for emphasizing that we are dirt, when the critic wanted me to say soil. A critique I both understand and reject as missing the wider point (and colloquial preference given how infrequently people use soil next to dirt).
This time of year, I’m also reminded that modern farming is destroying our soil. That methods of tilling it are too disruptive and pesticides to destructive. We’re killing our soil and reducing it to “dirt”.
So fitting, then, to remember that the first human was named Adam, literally “of soil”. And his job was to till the soil.
Killing the planet is literally killing ourselves. Hastening a return far earlier than necessary.
Birth, life, death, rebirth. Ashes, dust, dirt. Hopefully soil. If we’re lucky. Blessed. And more to go around.