Careless

So many things have been going on this week that have tried my soul. My heart still aches for my "family" who lost their lives in Orlando. I am still sitting with that pain and it has made me short tempered, frustrated, weepy and judgmental of others. Even my poor dog Owen has felt the brunt of my pain as I try to find a way to sanity in an insane situation.

In the midst of all this personal angst there have been a couple of other story lines in the news that grabbed my attention and they have brought home to me the very depth of human arrogance. We are such self-involved, self-congratulatory, arrogant, oblivious and careless creatures. Human beings are 100% convinced that they are the top of the food chain and that, combined with opposable thumbs and egos have made us the masters of this planet and all show bow before us.

The storylines that have brought this carelessness home to roost for me are the horrible tragedy at Disney World and an incident in India where 18 Asiatic lions were "arrested" and put "on trial" for attacking and killing folks who live near their reserve. What happened to that little boy was horrifying and tragic and so very sad. And how do we as a society react to that? We look for someone, anyone, to blame. Why do we have to BLAME anyone? It was not the parents fault. It was not Disney's fault. And it certainly was not the alligators' fault. It was a horrific accident of nature. And the alligators paid the price for this misfortune. The knee jerk reaction was to kill all the alligators they could find nearby because we have to make it safe for the HUMANS. Because our lives have far more value than a stupid alligator.

All that alligator saw was prey at the edge of his domain. He did not stop to decide if it was a human being or not. He was following his nature in order to survive. I am quite sure it would have been more than happy to not find itself at Disney World where it was much more likely to be spotted and killed. He did not think to himself...I think I shall pop over to Disney World and snatch me a toddler for supper. But because our lives are so much more important than any other creature all the gators in the area must die. It MUST be safe for us to do whatever the hell we want wherever the hell we want because we are kings of the jungle.

The same can be said for the lions in India. They "arrested" 18 of them and studied their paw prints and feces to determine which lion, or lions, hand been attacking and killing local villagers who lived near a lion sanctuary. They were searching for the "maneater". Evidently they have determined the culprirts who will now be locked away in cages for the rest of their lives so they will not eat anyone else. Because clearly it is more important to maintain our personal security even if it means taking away the freedom of another living being. Was it a good thing that the lions were attacking folks? Of course not...but again...the lion was doing what lions do in order to survive. Something was clearly causing stress to them within the sanctuary for them to roam outside where they were much more likely to encounter humans and possible death.

Where am I going with all this you ask? Well...I would like to ask my fellow homospaiens to stop and think about what we are doing to this planet. Speicies of flora and fauna everywhere are disappearing daily to service OUR needs and wants. We treat other living creatures carelessly and have little respect for their needs and their habitats that we have destroyed for our gain. We place great stress upon their populations and then get upset when deaths occur. We no longer seek to live side by side with nature and give it the respect it is due. We simply keep trying to subvert it our will and insure that our silly lives are the ones that matter most. I think ALL life has value. And I think that if we do not stop our insanity and put our egos aside we are going to find ourselves in deep, deep ecological doo doo and quite frankly, if there are any animals left they will have the last laugh.