I read recently that for the first time in more than 45 years, there were no rhinoceros poached in India’s parks. A task force was put together, which included local villagers, to monitor the phones of convicted poachers. Police teams patrolled the areas night and day, putting pressure on would be poachers.
The one-horned rhinos have been exploited for their horns. The horns have traditionally been used in Chinese medicine; but more commonly as a symbol of wealth and success. Their numbers had fallen to only around 100 in the early 1900s. Today there are close to 3,000.
The threat to, and the loss of so many species, concerns many of us. Sometimes we feel hopeless and as if no matter what we do, we cannot stop the evil that has run amok in the world. Our own sphere of influence may seem insignificant, but when citizens unite for a common cause, their influence is multiplied. We are often encouraged by the numerous nonprofit groups to part with our hard earned money to “save” various species; but these organizations have limited ability. Quite often the money given to them is miss handled and only about 65% goes to the actual charity.
Large groups of people who truly care about the wrongs they see, can drive away the evil without violence. We can become light keepers by allowing the goodness in our own hearts to join with that of others. Our small circle of light, when combined with that of other citizens, grows larger; and the darkness is driven out. We could all strive to grow our sphere of influence by seeking out those who also want to drive away the evil doers and help our planet’s non-human species. More and more people on the planet are awakening, and the light that we emit together will heal its wounds.
30 JANUARY 2023 SPHERE OF INFLUENCE
25 JANUARY 2023 BONUS DAYS
I have accumulated some bonus days over the course of my lifetime. I have passed the time of getting old, to actually being old. I am sure that most of us, when we are young, never believe that we will one day be a grey-haired senior. Time, or the passing of events, seems to accelerate though, and we suddenly find ourselves nearer to the end of life.
I now have two energetic great granddaughters. I also have a one year old great grandson and another great grandchild on the way. The world has changed considerably since the 1950’s. I often feel that I no longer belong here. The digital existence and the disconnect from Nature that is so prevalent, causes me great sadness. There are, of course, some good changes and positive things happening in today’s world. However; I am greatly concerned about our planet and for the fate of my grand children and great grandchildren.
I may soon be reaching my expiration date – the end of the mission for which I signed on at birth. Perhaps I have already passed my end date and each subsequent day is a bonus day that I have been granted. I will use these bonus days to the fullest. I hope to share with the younger generation, at each opportunity, the beauty of Nature. I hope to leave this legacy for my great grandchildren: to appreciate and care for our planet. Treat her as the most precious gift you have ever been given because she is the giver of life – her air, her water, her soil, and her sunlight sustain you.
When my bonus days are all used up and I can no longer give of my time, talents, and wisdom – when I become nothing more than a memory to a few – let them remember and emulate the love I have had for our Earth.
23 JANUARY 2023 24 HOUR LIVES
Our modern world has deprived many of seeing and interacting with Nature. They live their lives around a 24 hour clock, never taking the time for the natural pauses between night and day; but Nature has provided us with night time for a reason. City dwellers know nothing of the night sky. It is completely blotted out by the abundance of artificial light, in street lamps, on houses, on buildings, and in parking lots. They speed from place to place on highways where traffic remains as heavy at night, as during the day. They have no understanding of the detrimental effects that so much light pollution has on other species. Children grow up seeing animals in zoos, which is not really seeing them at all. Locked into the bright, noisy city life, these people are unable to understand the natural world.
My oldest daughter and son-in-law recently bought property outside of the city, where a light curfew has been implemented. Never having had the opportunity to see the stars before, they were blown away by the sheer numbers of them that fill the night sky. They were equally thrilled by the numerous hummingbirds that could be heard and seen during the warmer months. Their property is in an area where I had spent many summers as a young girl, with my grandparents. My grandmother had several hummingbird feeders hung from the roof eaves surrounding her house. Birds, wildflowers, tranquil silence, and the night sky are something that I have had the privilege of knowing.
Those of us who have seen and had intimate experience with Nature want to protect our planet. Millions of nonprofits attempt to reach the hearts of people, in order to alleviate suffering that has been caused to so many other species. The problem is that many city dwellers remain ignorant of the damage that has been done to the earth. They have never experienced Nature first hand. We need to bring Nature back into the city. We must bring her back into our homes and into our hearts, because until our heart strings are pulled upon by something real – by something natural – ignorance and apathy will persist. When we make that connection with even a small part of Nature, to care about something beyond our personal existence, there is hope. We can begin by turning off porch lights and encouraging our neighbors to do the same. Once a person really sees the night sky, they see how small and fragile our tiny planet is.
18 JANUARY 2023 WINTER MORNINGS
I believe that there is something deep down within each of us that wants to snuggle down into the comforting silence of a winter morning. Nature is reminding us to stop and to listen, to let go of our hectic doing and addictive thinking. But, most of us do not stop.
A great many people jump out of bed, chug down a cup of coffee and get out the snow blower. Instead of sitting quietly and listening to the snowflakes gently accumulating on the landscape, they hurry down the highway, joining millions of other motorists on the slippery freeway in an effort to get to work “on time.” A lot of them end up in automobile crashes, some fatal, or in multi-car pile-ups.
We have designed a society in which people must play this monotonous game because it has designed a world that is dependent upon money and consumerism. It has built a system that creates anxiety and fear in the population, where few acknowledge their natural state of simply “being.” It is as though someone has spun the wheel of life, causing it to go faster and faster. True, life is always moving in an ever and onward upward spiral. Life does not and will not stop; but we can control the speed in which we participate in it. We can settle into the serenity of the season and of the moment. We can release all past and future events, thus releasing worry and anxiety. We can allow ourselves to be completely absorbed in “now.” We can stop, breathe slowly, and immerse ourselves in the blissful silence of a winter morning.
16 JANUARY 2023 MURDER
Murder is the killing, generally of another human being, in the erroneous belief that the murder’s life is more valuable than that of the other. It is done with total disregard and indifference; often brutally, and often premeditated. Murder sometimes happens “by accident” when the killer is overcome with a fit of rage. Occasionally, it occurs out of self-defense.
We are the apex predator on our planet because we are not preyed upon by other species. The truth is, most of the other apex predators are much bigger and stronger than we are. Because it is rare for them to attack humans, we like to believe that they are less intelligent than we are. Most wild species avoid humans. They, in fact, have just as much intelligence as we have. The biggest difference between us is that their hearts are not filled with hatred. They do not murder out of a sense of superiority. Very few of us kill for survival these days, but we come up with a multitude of reasons to justify our extermination of other species or other groups of humans.
Throughout human history, man has preyed on other species, including his fellow man. While cannibalism has occurred only rarely, our human lust for killing prevails. It dominates our lives in actuality, and also in our stories, our films, and our games. We have violent and competitive sports to fill our idle hours. We seem to be fascinated with death. We have a multitude of television programs about crime solving, crime documentaries, murder mysteries, and even horror. The popularity of long running shows like NCIS and Criminal Minds are evidence of our addiction to the macabre. War stories are ever popular, not to mention those who are obsessed with reenactments of war. We get first hand glimpses of ongoing wars, such as the war in Ukraine, on our nightly news channels.
We do not like to think of ourselves as the blood thirsty predators we are. We pride ourselves on our sensibilities and our civility. We believe ourselves to be domesticated and cultured. We are both repelled and fascinated by death. Our reluctance to admit or accept our own mortality is overlooked, when it comes to the mortality of other species. We are at odds between our desire for life – and our hunger for murder and revenge. Our murdering hearts crave peace; but until we purge society of its addiction to violence, we will never achieve it.
11 DECEMBER 2023 DELUDED
I often wonder what a visitor from outer space would make of our planet, with its miles and miles and miles of fences. We are a species that does not work or play well with others. The “me” and “my” mentality begins at about age two and we go forth into life believing that ownership will make us happy. We delude ourselves into believing that the more land, houses, people, and pets we own, the more powerful we will be. Although slavery has been abolished, there are those who falsely believe that they “own” their children; and in some cultures, men believe that they own their wives. This sickly desire to own and to control has resulted in an illegal pet trade and in the abuse of millions of domestic dogs, cats, and horses. Many people spend their lives acquiring, accumulating, and surrounding themselves in possessions that become like a fortress, giving them a false sense of security.
We have row upon row of houses separated by fences and miles of public lands with “no trespassing” signs. We have “gated” communities. Our forests have been sacrificed to farmland and the fences surrounding the farms have fragmented the land – so much so that other species can no longer carry on with their migrations, or find the food and habitat that is necessary for their survival. They can no longer travel from one point to another without crossing a dangerous highway, or being stopped altogether by fences. A few hundred years ago, settlers could cross from one side of this country to the other, hindered only by mountain ranges or rivers. Indigenous people traveled from one area to the other for centuries, living in harmony with the land. Our relationship to the land was aptly stated in a documentary I watched on Appalachia, “We did not inherit the forests from our ancestors – we borrowed them from our children.”
Some of us are buying our own homes. Some already own several properties. Others rent their homes. A piece of paper called a title, convinces us that we own a property. This is all an illusion of course. Once we die and discard our body, whatever we falsely believed that we owned is no longer ours. Liability falls upon all of us. It makes no difference if we rent, or believe we “own” the land we occupy. It is our duty and privilege to treat it as sacred space. Our planet is more sacred than any church or synagogue we may enter. Until we fully understand that we have been gifted the responsibility of caring for our planet, we will remain completely deluded.
9 DECEMBER 2023 THE FESTERING WOUND
I have often spoken of the disturbing prevalence of violence in our world. The United States holds the record for school shootings. In fact, we are nearly the only country where these atrocities have occurred – and they occur on a regular basis. Since 1970, there have been more than 2,000 school shootings, which have resulted in more than 650 deaths. The frequency with which they are happening is increasing to almost faster than a cell divides. This past week, a six year old brought a gun into his 1st grade classroom and shot his teacher! Will we continue to go on with “life as usual,” pretending that this problem is going to go away?
The other night I watched a film about a six year old boy whose family had been killed during a time of war. He ran away from the adversaries, and was found and adopted by the commander of a unit of allies. They turned him into a “little soldier” by making him his own uniform, a toy wooden gun, and giving him duties to carry out. He was told, “Men do not cry.” To soften the ugliness of war, the story was interwoven with a love story between the commander, a nurse, and the little boy.
When will we stop glorifying war? More importantly, when will we stop saturating our children with violence and filling their heads with grandiose notions about superheroes? Children will emulate what they see and what they hear. Why aren’t we teaching them about love, acceptance, and empathy, rather than hatred, violence, and murder?
Creating gun “laws” is simply putting a Band-Aid over a festering wound. The only way to rid ourselves of this sickening violence is to rid ourselves of guns. I reiterate what I said in my book Question Everything: “We need to consider not only the control of weapons, but the very existence of them in a world where peace is no longer an option, but a requirement for a new age.”
4 DECEMBER 2022 LIFE IS LIKE THAT
There is something almost exciting about the morning sun streaming through the window after several days of clouds and snow. It warms the heart at least, if not yet the body. It is the days in between the storms that help to make the winter bearable.
Life is like that. It is the happy moments, the precious memories that help to cover the darker ones, the way the sunlight covers the darkness of night. When I contemplate this truth, it helps me to glide through any unpleasantness I encounter – almost as though it never happened. During the frigid temperatures of the previous week, the frozen pipe, and the ensuing cleanup, I reminded myself often that “this too, shall pass.” And, it did. Then came the next storm. Now, it has passed on, too. It reminds me of a ferris wheel. One moment you are at the top, then at the bottom, and then the top again. I sometimes pull myself away, far enough to see that the things that are happening are nothing more than events, events that continue ad infinitum. It is like I am watching a movie of my life, where I am the spectator rather than the protagonist.
I am enjoying the sun this morning for a brief period of time as it floods my living room with light. Soon I will have to let it go and move into midday, then into the afternoon, and evening once again. The early morning will always be my favorite time of day; but it is the darkness and the nighttime that have shown me how to appreciate it.
2 JANUARY 2023 DOUBLE THE PLEASURE
Since New Year’s fell on a Sunday this year, today has been designated as a holiday. This is a blessing in my mind because I have enjoyed two mornings, instead of only one, in blissful quiet. Sundays are generally the quietest day of the week (at least for the first part of the day.) Snowy days are often quiet too, until the snow blowers begin to desecrate the sacred silence. It snowed all day yesterday and it is snowing again today. The snow, coupled with the holiday, is providing us with a few hours of sublime quietude. We are getting double the pleasure and a peaceful beginning to a new year. Even my one year old cat has stopped asking to go outside and he has settled down, accepting what is.
This sacred, silent beginning to a new year is encouraging. Dare we hope for more peace, more compassion, and more love in the coming months? Could this be the year that more people not only awaken to the serious threats our planet is facing, but also vow to make the necessary changes in their lives? Will this be the year that the climate deniers pull their heads out of the sand and ask, “What were we thinking?” Can this be the year that we turn the tide of past ignorance to infinite possibilities for a sustainable future?
Today it is quiet enough that I can hear the soothing ticking of my living room clock. My radiant heating makes almost no noise and there is only the sound of the refrigerator cycling on and off, or the occasional car plowing its way through the deep snow on streets that have not yet been plowed. During this time of double the pleasure, can we listen to the silence – and can we heed the messages that we hear there?
28 DECEMBER 2022 INSECT FAERIES
My daughter gave me an insulated cup that I can use for drinking tea while I am at work. It is beautiful, besides being functional, and it is covered with drawings of dragonflies and damselflies. I have always been fascinated with these beguiling creatures. I saw them often when I was a child, while spending summer weekends next to a lake with my family. Little did I know at that time, they would be threatened with extinction a mere 70 years later. In fact, 64% of the world’s wetlands are disappearing; and they are vanishing three times faster than our forests.
Dragonflies and damselflies are a wetland species. The loss of their habitat is due not only to urbanization and unsustainable farming practices, but to the profuse use of pesticides as well. Why can we not see that these faery-like beings are our allies? They eat mosquitoes and mosquito larvae. The wetlands themselves store carbon and provide us with clear, clean water. They also help to prevent flooding. Protecting our wetlands, and all of the species that rely on them, should be one of our foremost objectives. Instead of providing millions of dollars for military aid, for pointless wars, and for space exploration, should we not be pouring money into saving our planet from the reprehensible practices that have been imposed on it?
Both dragonflies and damselflies have a double set of wings and you can tell them apart because the wings of the damselfly are of equal size and shape. The forewing and hindwing of the dragonfly; however, vary. Both have large multi-faceted eyes (like diamonds), elongated bodies, and transparent wings. The damsels are more brilliantly colored, more delicate overall, and they do not fly as fast or as strong as the dragons. There are around 7,000 dragonfly species and close to 3,000 of their smaller cousins, the damsels. Nearly 20% are now in danger of extinction.
Now each day while I am sipping tea from my new cup, I will be reminded of the vital threat to our wetlands and to the insect faeries that grace them.