Photo by By Glenn Carstens-Peters glenncarstenspeters – https://unsplash.com/photos/fClBZUzhlhkarchive copy at the Wayback Machine, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61654278
Well, this sums up how I often feel very nicely. Thank goodness I have you lovely people to remind me that far more people are capable of empathy, and care about other living things, than the people who do things like this.
Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America by Matthew Olzmann
Tell me what it’s like to live without
curiosity, without awe. To sail
on clear water, rolling your eyes
at the kelp reefs swaying
beneath you, ignoring the flicker
of mermaid scales in the mist,
looking at the world and feeling
only boredom. To stand
on the precipice of some wild valley,
the eagles circling, a herd of caribou
booming below, and to yawn
with indifference. To discover
something primordial and holy.
To have the smell of the earth
welcome you to everywhere.
To take it all in, and then,
to reach for your knife.
We value ancient rock paintings and condemn damaging a tree but both are people leaving their mark on the world. I am working on being less judgemental!
Best wishes for your exam.
I suppose, for me, there is a difference between damaging a living thing in 2025 and drawing on a rock millenia ago. Humans have always wanted to leave their mark but there are lots of better ways – planting a tree for example 🙂
Brilliant!
I was watching a news item the other day about the Giant’s Causeway being damaged because of people jamming coins into the crevices between the rocks. We seem to have such a strong desire to show that we’ve ‘been’ somewhere that it results in these seemingly senseless acts of vandalism.
I read that too….we do seem to need to have a strong urge to ‘make our mark’. I remember people throwing coins into fish ponds and poisoning the fish, for one thing. I suppose that’s what the Selfie thing is all about, and it’s probably less harmful.