Late Summer Reflections

Heaven on Earth? Click & it will get bigger.

I had a rarefied & remarkable occurrence. Even with The Husband at home, which usually dooms my desire to do nothing, with his list of chores, I chose to park myself in the Boy's Fort with a pile of magazines.

This was a picture perfect late summer afternoon, 80 degrees, sunny & a light breeze. I heard the now familiar chirp of a hummingbird & spotted him right away. He was moving through dogwood branches directly overhead. I put down NY Magazine & positioned myself prone & looking up. I was very still & gazed straight above & took regard of all that was happening above & around me.

In a short span of a half hour, I caught sight of the hummers, a pair of yellow & black butterflies, a fat bumble bee & a spider designing & delivering an elegant web. The area above me, in the canopy of the old dogwood, was alive with insects, itty-bitty, arachnid & arthropod, filling the space as if was a the critter super highway. This is why there is no use of pesticides at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia. I marveled.

After the few minutes slipped away, I was brought back to the truth, there are those that harbor a disregard for life on this beautiful blue orb. They give a Biblical justification: "Be fruitful & multiply; fill the earth & subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, & over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). Apparently the Christian/Judeo God is not an environmentalist.

I am hoping that something was lost in translation & what She meant was that we are to be great stewards of the planet, passionately protect, prize, praise & respect living things, great & small. I believe my point of view will lose out & I am rather gratified that I will be checking out & moving on sometime in the early 21st century.

"It is truly an oasis & we don't take very good care of it. I think the elevation of that awareness is a real contribution to saving the Earth."
Dave Scott, Apollo 9 & 15

"I really believe that if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a distance of 100,000 miles their outlook could be fundamentally changed. That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy argument silenced. The tiny globe would continue to turn, serenely ignoring its subdivisions, presenting a unified façade that would cry out for unified understanding, for homogeneous treatment. The earth must become as it appears: blue & white, not capitalist or Communist; blue & white, not rich or poor; blue & white, not envious or envied."
Michael Collins, Gemini 10 & Apollo 11

"The Earth was small, light blue, & so touchingly alone, our home that must be defended like a holy relic. The Earth was absolutely round. I believe I never knew what the word round meant until I saw Earth from space."
Aleksei Leonov