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Dalton
Roberts |
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Each year I pause a few moments and remember the Dusky Seaside Sparrow on June 16, the day in 1987 the last one died on Florida’s east coast. Like most of the thousands of species that have died over the years, earth’s greatest predator, man, destroyed it. Destroy the habitat and you usually destroy the species. So why do I celebrate a little obscure sparrow? It didn’t look a lot different than many other sparrows. To my vision, it was not impressively pretty but surely there must be something beautiful to the Creator in everything created here on Mother Earth. Surely they are all a part of the glorious quilt of life. Most of us are abysmally dumb about that great quilt of life. We know so little about the interdependent nature of each piece of the quilt. We speak of the “chain of life” without thinking that you have a broken chain when you lose links. The question that should perturb us is, “How many links can you lose without endangering the fragile web of life that connects all living creatures?” It is clear from simple observation that life cherishes diversity. Man goes against the grain of life on this point. Man is threatened by diversity. It makes him fly planes into buildings, stack up prisoners like cordwood and force them to do things that insult their religion, burn people at the stake, drag them behind pickup trucks and act out the most primitive aspects of human nature. Tolerance alone is not likely to save us at this stage of our danger. Tolerance is not even a positive word. It merely means to put up with something we dislike. It has clearly been the practice of humans to damage or destroy anything they dislike or do not understand. In the demise of the Dusky Sea Sparrow, we see that disinterest alone can kill something. Like me, you have surely seen people perish from disinterest. Actually, disinterest is a mild but deadly form of hatred. In one experiment we studied in a psychology class at UTK, baby monkeys who had no parental touch either died or developed into crazy, anti-social adult monkeys. Disinterest is a killer and the level of our disinterest in our home planet will eventually destroy us if we do not wake up and respect the quilt of life. I was deeply disturbed to learn that only 18% of Chattanoogans recycle. I once lived on a street where I was the only person setting out recyclables. I decided I did not want to live around people with such low regard for conserving the resources of this planet. On the street where I now live, I believe every home recycles. It feels so good to drive down the street on Thursdays and see all those beautiful blue bags. I am proud of Chattanooga for the quality of life we are creating, but I ask you, what could be easier than having one blue bag where you put paper, plastic and metals and setting it out one day a week for city workers to pick up? You will not only be doing your part to save the planet, you will be providing jobs for a lot of beautiful Orange Grove workers. You can no longer put glass in the recycling bags. I can understand what a hazard that might pose for those workers. But I am taking my glass to the Warner Park drop center. Before the city started picking up recyclables, I was taking them to Normal Park School. I think we can afford to go out of our way to protect the quilt of life. To get on the city recycle program, call 311 or email www.chattanooga.gov. What does the death of the Dusky Seaside Sparrow have to do with the city’s recycling program? Everything. Both are colorful pieces of the quilt of life. The sparrow is gone but maybe we can be saved.
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