20 FEBRUARY 2023 DO NO HARM

The Monarch butterflies are making a comeback! This is good news to begin a new week. There are still thousands of other butterfly species that are threatened with extinction, but the Monarchs are proof that when enough people care, miracles can happen.

The Hippocratic oath, first stated by Hippocrates, the Greek physician known as the father of modern medicine, says, “First, do no harm.” These words have been supplanted in the oath taken by medical doctors of today. Hippocrates’s words are open to interpretation. It appears that even in this “age of communication,” we are still bogged down by ambiguity and varied opinions. What one person views as “harm” may be looked at by another as “saving a life.” With our increased understanding of the physical laws of Nature, we seem to create still more confusion. The recent overturning of Roe v Wade is another example of people twisting words to manipulate events.

The words “First do no harm;” however, could not be more straightforward. We have been clearly shown by scientists and biologists all over the world, the harm that we have done – and are still doing – to our planet. If we would simply stop our incessant talking and just listen, we would hear and see the truth that Nature has been trying to tell us. She is asking us to stop doing harm by using pesticides and herbicides, destroying habitat, and undermining the sustainability of ecosystems. She is trying to help us.

I am reading David Attenborough’s most recent book: A Life on Our Planet. He has written the book to bear witness to the loss of biodiversity and to the fading away of the natural world. He has in his words, “seen it with his own eyes.” If we are honest, we have all seen the harm we have done. Some of us have chosen not to see, to go on living in a world that falsely believes we are separate from Nature; but until we all decide to do no more harm, our fate remains uncertain.