I’mno extreme environmentalist as far as sitting in the middle of a roadand holding up a sign, or taking part in a riot. But I agree thatmankind has done a terrible job of preserving the natural beauty, thepristine waters, the abundance of natural resources, the gloriouslandscapes and the clean, healthy air we once breathed. Our NativeAmericans saw it coming 200 years ago when the European immigrantsbegan coming to America. They were astounded at the waste settlersleft behind on their way west, and at the fact that buffalo hunterskilled millions of the precious beasts just for their skin, leavingthe everything else to rot for what would have been a treasure troveof survival needs to the Indians. Just think of it. One animalprovided their clothing, shelter, weapons, tools, cooking and eatingimplements, medicine, sacred items for worship, jewelry … anendless supply of needs all from one animal. At the same time,everything our Native Americans used for survival came from natureand were things that would naturally return to the earth withoutcausing contamination, things that would disintegrate rather thanpile up in ugly trash to hurt our eyes and noses for years to come.

       Icame upon these thoughts when I found something I wrote probably agood forty years ago. As a writer, I was always jotting down thingsthat came to me according to my various moods. I must have beenhaving one of those days of melancholy, a day of realizing the factthat I will not live forever, or perhaps just suddenly full ofappreciation for mother nature. We own some property on a small lakehere in southwest Michigan, and apparently, I was walking around inthe woods on a lovely day and wishing we could go back to the dayswhen mankind was not so advanced that he began destroying ourprecious natural elements just to have all the conveniences we thinkwe must have in today’s time. Heaven knows what more will bedestroyed in future quests for modern conveniences we have beenconvinced are necessary to our well being, when, in fact, we areprobably better off without them. 

 

Followingis what I wrote:

 

       “Itis quiet here, except for the rush of the wind through branches thatare nearly bare now. Autumn has arrived. The sun is still warm on myskin, but the breeze is chilled, and I am warm and cold both at thesame time. A crane swoops over the lake before me … the lake, whichsparkles and glitters. All seems crisp and clean and innocent thismorning. The air smells fresh. Insects that are hidden in the weedssing. In the distance I hear the sound of an axe as my husband splitslogs for our winter warmth.” (We heated with wood when we lived onthe lake.) 

 

       “Whatwill be left of this in years to come? It could all be gone.Untouched places may no longer exist. I smell the earth. I gaze atthe bright blue sky, dotted with puffy autumn clouds. The birdschirp, but many of them are already making their way south. Theleaves are brilliant colors of gold, red and orange mixed with green.This kind of beauty man, with all his technology, cannot create. Buthe can most certainly destroy it. Man is destroying it. Whatwill be left for my grandchildren? My great-grandchildren?

 

       WhenI look at the ground and watch the ants, study the twigs, the moss,the shades of the earth, I see true beauty. This unattended woodswith its variety of plant life, and its wild colors and fresh smells,is more beautiful than man’s most well-groomed gardens. It is morebeautiful because it is real, untouched, natural. How many things arethere left in this world like this? 

 

        WhenI look at all that is around me … when I see the green grass, theblue sky and gray/blue lake water … when I watch a squirrel scurryup a tree to store its winter food … when I hear the soft chirps ofbirds that I cannot quite find in the trees … when I hear cricketsand the frogs and watch the silent insects going about their businesswith determination and organized preciseness, I realize that in spiteof what happens to this world, Gods creations will go on as always …forever … in spite of man’s ignorant follies that seem destinedto destroy it all. 

       Someday man, in his blind idiocy and quest to rule things only God canrule, will probably destroy himself, but the ants will go right onbuilding. The birds will go right on singing. The water will rush andsparkle and eventually run pure again. The wind will sing through thetrees no longer cut down for a hundred things man thinks he needs.The sun will warm the earth. The mushrooms will grow. The frogs willbelch their awkward songs, and the mountains will still rise to theheavens. And what, after all, will man’s intelligence have done forhim? 

 

       Mankind,it seems, would be better off to be ignorant and innocent, like theanimals. The animals have more respect for their environment and forGod’s beautiful earth than does man. How sad that we have not usedour intelligence to preserve the joyous beauty God has given us forfree, rather than using it to destroy the only things that can bringus true happiness.

 

       Thewords from a Bon Jovi song always make me think of this … I wish wecould go back …

 

[Back,when we were beautiful, before the world got small, before we knew itall … Am I blessed, or am I cursed? ‘Cause the way we are ain’tthe way we were … Back, when we were innocent, I wonder where itwent, let’s go back and find it.]”