JANUARY 26, 2006
Why
yesterdays story about angry monkeys in Costa Rica? Because nature speaks and we better start listening more attentively. That is one of my Dr. Doolittle animal stories that have reformed my life, but there are others.
The story of the tigers in Sumatra reinforced for me the need to reflect on how nature does speak to us directly, if we will only take a moment to listen. What is the story of the tigers? Tigers are attacking loggers and many believe it is their spirit that has been wounded and they are fighting back. Rarely would a tiger seek out a human being, unless threatened. Now the tigers are more aggressive, and their habitat is severely compromised.
Do we have a right to take another species homeland?
Apparently, we humans are so self centered today that the rights of anyone other than humans is discounted and ignored. Does a mother have a right to defend her children if threatened? The answer for many is yes for humans, and no for tigers. Tigers have dwindled down to a precious few, and the remaining Sumatran tigers are fighting back.
Is an attack on a logger justifiable homicide? In the tiger world yes it is because they have lost their food supply due to extensive logging and the consequences of habitat loss.
The question is direct: Who will we defend? The loggers or the tigers? In the past the human family did not have to choose because the tigers had their home territory. This magnificent indicator species reflects what any threatened parent would do - fight back to preserve their environment for their young.
Any time nature speaks out we should listen long and hard and nature seems to be speaking louder and louder every year. As Thomas Berry once told me in his study in Riverdale on the Hudson, New York in 1990, Peter it is time we held up the book of nature in our hand and listened to her message. The time for all of us to listen is now. Tomorrow will be too late. Amen
--Peter