Many people including myself seem to want to put others and even ourselves into neat little boxes. The question I get a lot is where is my favorite place in the world. While I am not a world traveled person, I can't think of any place as my favorite. All places that have sky above them are what I would call my favorite.
This amazing blue dot in a forbiddingly huge universe has evolved an amazing array of life that has equal footing with every other life form. While I am slightly biased toward humans, there is nothing I want to do more than to make humans realize that superstition and religion are no excuse for trying to speed the extinction of our and all other species on this planet.
The belief in a higher being fills the void of the unknown but stubborn belief in what others wrote years before answers were discovered relegates one to that of a willfully ignorant being. Trying to mandate individual behaviors that have absolutely no effect on the life of others is arrogant. The rights of each individual to have clean air and water and to live a life unmolested by others is the only place where individual and corporate rights have to be regulated.
When I was trying to follow the words of others in a religion, there were little sayings that I took to heart. They are tips on how to live conservatively. If one wants to follow a religion then one really should seek to understand the seven deadly sins and live as though one's life and not just the after life depends on it.
Greed goeth before the fall is the simplest yet most telling of the waste of our society. One does not own the earth and should not feel they are owed anything by it. Western society takes what it wants yet wants private property rights unless the property is something a greedy person wants. The right to steal is written in most governments, yet when land is set aside for the greater good, the lazy seem to think it their right to despoil the land for all others.
Humanity is the only being that has the intelligence to thwart extinction yet greed pushes for its inevitable happening. As Earth Day approaches, if each person would find not just one thing to give up but many, (including the ridiculous notion that having as many babies as one wants is a good thing), then maybe the species that really is my favorite will live in perpetuity on my favorite place.
I was assigned to lead a butterfly walk for the Mono Lake Bird Chataqua on Sunday, June 21st, so I met with my friends Bob & Susan to scout for butterflies on Saturday afternoon in the area. Later that evening the Mono Lake Committee held a the social wine and cheese reception. The group is made up of many really nice people; they started this protection effort in the 70's with the work of the late David Gaines. So far the committee has won many battles along with the hearts of millions of visitors to the magnificent Mono Lake and environs. I met the organizers of the Chataqua David Winkler and Lisa Cutting.
The event is really well organized but feels very relaxed, which means the organizers work their butts off!
