mankind vs. beast vs. planet

i tried posting this yesterday but either blogger or my browser was behaving dysfunctionally. i can no longer find the article so i'll just have to paraphrase. an elephant was shot and killed in india last week. this elephant had (supposedly) been terrorizing a village off and on for 2 years, trampling huts and people alike. a day or so later, after being killed, some of the other members of this elephant's herd charged through this same village, creating further havoc.

no surprise there. elephant's are very intelligent and every bit as emotional and connected with their "families" as we humans are.

once again, we are seeing another terrible example of what happens when humans invade a space and consume the surrounding resources. something always must be lost so that humans can gain. now of course i could go on and on about this, but then i would be a hypocrite, wouldn't i? the land on which my house resides had to see loss of vegetation and a displacement of a variety of animal species, all so i could have a warm place to live. and if an elephant were trampling the homes in my neighborhood, terrorizing the people, the children, the pets, i would want it removed. if it harmed (or worse) my dog or my spouse, i wouldn't hesitate putting a bullet through its head.

what the hell is the balance anymore? can there be a balance? is it possible for every living creature to have what they need at this stage in the evolutionary game?

when we speak of overpopulation, that angers a lot of people. "we have the RIGHT" is something we humans love to spout. "we have the RIGHT to have as many kids as we want!" "we have the RIGHT to build this 10,000 square foot mansion!" "we have the RIGHT to drive this car wherever we wish!" the question i've been asking myself when i have these same thoughts is "according to whom?" who says i have this right? i believe it's just me. and being there is more than just me residing on this planet, it is only fair that i consider others. not that this is easy for me to do. life has not been easy for me--at all. i don't have a strong family system. they're half-assed at best. certainly not predictable in their reliability. i struggle with depression and anxiety/panic. i have a couple of friends, one locally, who i know i could count on. i have my spouse, whose family is even more deplorable than my own. his friend situation is no better than mine. it could be worse, i realize that. but it could also be a hell of a lot better! given the life i have lived, it is difficult for me to consider others. when you've been kicked around and when it goes against your inherent desire to fight back, or fight at all, when life has simply not given you what you have tried to achieve, it is natural to fall into the "me first at the expense of you" mentality. i try not to. but it's there nonetheless.

one of the things i am opening up to is presenting something not only to myself but to the people of this planet. wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all begin to talk about how we live. truly how we live. how we consume. how we interact with others around us. difficult to do for most considering it takes time to think at this level and who wants to realize that they could cut back on what they are consuming. there's a lot of talk about elevating consciousness. that has, overall, been a joke. i was once part of the new age/new thought movement. these folks love to talk about love of self and connecting with a higher intelligence, connecting with our higher selves. however, none have offered up any answer to the planetary crisis. they think simply having positive thoughts about it all is enough. hypocritical it is to me to see so many of these folks live a life of luxury, claiming this is due to their own thoughts and the gifts of the universe. i used to cling to those words. now they repel me. sure, thoughts and intentions create. and i believe the universe doesn't judge. (if it did, think we'd have this mess?) but don't these people realize their gluttony is causing others to go without (gluttony only as defined by the truth that the planet could not sustain their lifestyles for all)? don't they realize that there are only so many resources to go around and that if everyone were to live THEIR lifestyle, the planet could in no way sustain it? let's talk about, instead, of living in HARMONY (and i'm not just talking about peaceful spiritual harmony) with the earth. we need to establish some guidelines, beginning with creating a scenario that depicts what is the maximum lifestyle each of us can live (equally) that will be sustainable for our planet.

it's quite simple. while i realize that the above scenario and necessary thoughtfulness would be a very difficult pill to swallow, and while i realize not all would choose to live alike, we ALL deserve to have the equal chance to do just that.