Nature was generous today ...
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Today has three folders:
Rescued Geese - the geese which were abducted from Crescent Lake were recovered and returned
Beautiful Life - diversity of life on the beach, in the water and the sky above
Hot, Hot, Hot - Afternoon hike along the beach under the hot summertime sun, rendered wonderful by the birds, bugs and plants
I made the mistake this morning of reading the local newspaper. The last couple days have been terribly violent in the Tampa - St. Petersburg region, though remarkably 2009 so far is less violent than 2008. A cop was killed yesterday ... 95 people died in Iraq ... and there are too many stories of a similar nature to tell.
It makes no difference to me whether the communities in which I spend my time are filled with violent people. I'm not impressed nor am I at all terrified by humans. No one has ever threatened to take my life and I certainly would never refuse the offer. I'm non-violent and would never lift a finger in order to prevent someone else from committing violence against me ... not that anyone has ever offered or threatened to behave in such a manner against me.
Driving on the road is much more dangerous than walking through neigborhoods. On the way home this sad person in a big truck thought he might try to intimidate my little car by driving on my tail. I slowed down. That's my automatic response to impatient drivers. If the big pickup wants to drive over my car it can do so ... otherwise the driver has no choice except to slow down and that is exactly what happens.
I accept everyone as-they-are and since my standards for humankind are so very low am never disappointed. Humans have made a mess of the planet and humans are perpetually unhappy-stressed-angry-competitive-violent (whether in a real or vicarious sense). Humans are a lost cause, the ultimate lost cause, and I wish I could rescue the misguided self-destructive species from itself.
It would be much easier to teach bacteria to stop behaving like a disease than it would be to teach peace to humankind.
Humans aren't peaceful, peace-loving animals. Humans are most most violent animal to ever inhabit the Earth. Evolution's greatest accomplishment, evolution's failed experiment, evolution's greatest mistake.
I'll devote all my attention to beauty and let the human tragedy work itself out. There isn't much time left for humankind. The consequences era has already begun. Humankind's decline & fall era began a long while ago.
David Mathews
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