The Choices We Make About Nature
Storm clouds gather over a hilly area of Antelope Flats in Grand Teton National Park.
Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, our life is nothing more than a series of choices; the animals we love or hate, the road we’ve taken to bring us to where we currently are, the people we call our friends, even our politicians holding office. Everything in our lives is the result of a choice at some point along the journey.
And yet, some people have chosen a life filled with hate, anger, and ignorance. More specifically, people actually choose to live their lives hating an animal such as a wolf simply because they refuse to educate themselves about it. Education and tolerance are an almost palpable threshold, a step into another realm of life that is so close to tangible, you can almost sense the change that will take place once it is crossed. Most people who choose to live in fear though, have created that mentality as their comfort zone and would rather fight a losing battle against a majestic species before opening their eyes to the clear and abundant facts that illustrate the overwhelming benefits of such an animal’s presence. Once someone does choose to educate themselves however, it’s a leap through a doorway that can never be undone. Never again can they go back to blindly hating something or someone. From that point on, they’ll seek out and find both sides of the equation to learn which choice would make more sense.
Problems arise however, when we choose to elect politicians who are still very ignorant and fearful. In states like Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, we’ve elected those who pride themselves on natural ignorance. As a result, despite what they say, they have not started a wolf management hunt, they have declared an all out war against an animal that they refuse to listen to facts and scientific evidence about. We’ve elected politicians who encourage torture and gassing pups as a means to an end. If this sounds psychotic and barbaric, it’s because it is. According to a 1997 study, people who abuse animals are five times more likely to incur violence upon another human. Many participating in the wolf hunts proudly share pictures of themselves torturing wolves caught in traps and take pride in gassing an entire den of pups and an alpha female, all completely legal thanks to people that were chosen to represent an entire state. Are these really the "leaders" we want deciding not just the well-being for nature, but for our communities throughout an entire state? It is clearly psychotic behavior that is encouraged from these "leaders" who are sadly respected and trusted by many who also refuse to do any research on their own, putting our natural world and resources in an incredibly dangerous place.
Our politicians should not be promoting fear and violence. This is a sad reflection of the people in this region and absolutely outdated, preventing progress and well-being from flourishing in a large portion of the entire country. Rather than perpetuating hate based solely on anger and void of any facts, our elected officials should pride themselves on inspiring their people to what is best based on sound science while also educating younger generations on positive moral decisions. They should promote education and help feed this information into the schools where children can be fed unbiased science based on facts and then taught how to think, rather than what to think. After all, every child wants to feel compassion and kindness toward everything he/she encounters. Hate for animals and other people has to be taught to a child, every time, until they’ve chosen to be as angry at the world as their parents that taught them such behavior.
This behavior may have been the norm 150 years ago, but we live in a different age. Anyone who believes the anti-predator agenda is still needed have chosen to prevent themselves from living a healthier life. The consistent stress and anger will eventually take its toll on their bodies. Once the choice is made to educate oneself though, that threshold can never be crossed back over. The sense of rightness that erupts from self-empowerment is too great to overcome. This is why these people that have chosen a life of hate are a dying breed. There’s no room for them in today’s society anymore. All it takes is the choice to look at a situation differently and the stress, anger, and hatred melt away.
As for our politicians, many people, both that hold office and those that don’t, forget that it’s the masses that put them there, and it’s the masses that can remove them and replace them. Keep in mind they need you more than you need them. The entire system was designed so that the majority of people would always have the power to choose a politician they were happy with, so are you happy with having politicians that promote violence, ignorance, and hatred in office? I think we can choose better.
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Posted in Article. Tags: Article, Grand Teton National Park, Storms, Wyoming.
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