Life is so fragile, and we live it so carelessly, even recklessly. I have a dream that has spanned my entire lifetime and continues to live inside of me. I am so close to breaking free. Some things need to happen first, and I am sensing glimpses of change.
This afternoon I picked up an old friend and popped it in the VHS player, "Instinct" with Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding, Jr. Both phenomenal performers, in my humble opinion. It's the story of an anthropologist who lived among the gorillas, who was accepted as part of the family as a man living in harmony with nature. Gooding plays the psychiatrist who is assigned to Hopkins' case when he is sent back to the states and jailed with the criminally insane for protecting his family as they are being senselessly slaughtered. In one poignant scene, the psychiatrist says to the Nathan (Hopkins):
"You asked me a question once, "What has you all tied up in knots when you wake up sweating in the middle of the night." You still want to know? I've been thinking about it. I've been thinking about it a lot. It's not the work. I love the work. I've always loved the work. It's the game...and I was so good at it. I made sure all the right people liked me. At night I'd do a check list in my mind. Am I cool with Ben Hillard? Am I cool with Dr. Josephson? Am I cool with all the people who can help me? Am I cool with all the people who can hurt me? Nobody thought I was weak or a loser. (He pauses and begins again) There was nobody I was defending. Nobody I loved. Bad game. But guess what. You taught me how to live outside of the game. You taught me how to live."
There's much more to the story. It was at this point that the anthropologist, Nathan, had withdrawn within himself, had given up, after Theo, the psychiatrist, had managed to have him open up and share his story. Had he succeeded, his fame as a psychiatrist would have been sealed, yet, because of Nathan's story, he learned to truly open his eyes and "see" life and value it. He learned that the idea of "control" was merely an illusion.
Of course this story deals with my beloved Africa, and with gorillas with whom I have a fondness. Protecting our environment and animals is high on my list of priorities, as is advocating for all endangered species, including the two legged variety. The thought that beautiful wildlife is captured and caged or otherwise poached and killed for their body parts as trophies on someone's wall makes me sick to my stomach. I believe as the indigenous people of our earth do that we kill only when we must, only to survive. When necessary to kill for food and survival, then do so with consideration and dignity.
My health mandates a lifestyle different from most in that my diet must be strict and unyielding as my life is at stake. What most people do not realize is that all life is dependent on our diets and daily habits including exercise, rest, proper hydration and nutrition. The food we grow today does not hold the same nutritional value as it once did, because our earth has been raped of its nutrients by misuse and neglect. The rules of allowing the ground to lay fallow on the seventh year is seldom if ever obeyed. Everything has changed. Nothing holds value.
How can we expect to value the life of an animal when we do not value the lives of human beings? Each year countless numbers of children are murdered in their mothers' wombs all for the sake of the right to choose. These poor girls, most innocent in their actions, are pushed to make a decision that will change the entirety of their lives as they live with the consequences, the guilt. I am a biologist, and I have witnessed first hand the fertilization of an egg in vitro and the firing of the neutrons, the formation of the spinal cord and the heart. It boggles my mind as to how any scientist after observing the formation of life in this basic way can ever deny the sanctity of human life. I'm certain those with more learned knowledge than I would refute my statements, but I know the truth, and one day I pray their eyes, all eyes will be open to know this wonderful truth.
Whether gorillas or human life, infants to advanced elderly all life is priceless and precious. So protecting life is our responsibility, our service, our response - always. God created all life, so we need to treat it and our earth with respect.
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