Endangered Species

As an activist for endangered species, I had a rude awakening the other day: I just realized that we qualify. I mean if you've been watching TV, 20-20 had a program on the other day that talked about the seven most likely events that would wipe us out as a people and/or planet. Then there's been program after program about the terrorists coming to get us, hurricane Katrina and her successor which could come at any time, Global Warming, Little Ice Ages, terrorists in Iran.... It means, and you guessed it, we are now the Endangered Species...

I was truly depressed. I mean I'm used to fighting for others but never thought I'd have to fight for myself.

There's the probability of a cometary collision...

An cataclysmic earthquake under one of the State Parks that will spew enough emissions to blanket us for the next few decades and that everything will die. Hey, that means us.

Or they even talked about intergalactic flashes that would blind us and boil off the oceans and leave us walking around blind without any oceans, not that we would notice.

There was even talk of Black Holes and how they would suck us in after stretching us until we looked like a piece of taffy.

And that was only the top Seven. How many more things are waiting to boil us, freeze us, suck us in...

It's pretty awesome....and depressing at the same time...

However, I have my own theory.

I think it's because we here on earth thought with our little atom bombs and our powers, we didn't need to worry about Nature.

And we started abusing the heck out of her. We put trails all over the place in pristine areas. We pumped poisons in the ground to extract minerals. We filled the air with CO2 without giving a thought to it. We poisoned the water. Then the air. And now we're bitching and moaning because Nature is flexing her muscles a little.

Hey, maybe we should all recognize that Nature deserves a break.. That we should think twice before we start abusing her left and right. And maybe extend to her a little respect!

Maybe we should even back off from some of our exploitive tendencies and start asking forgivenesss from a much maligned Nature that is now giving us a taste of our own medicine. And if you have any doubt who would win in this kind of a contest, you should head back to the drawing board.

Anyway, I'm sorry for mouthing off but us endangered species have a right.

And I figure I might as well use it now; I may not have another chance.

Les Aaron
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