When faced with a bleak situation and unable to stem the tide to a great extent, what else can a person do? Well, Louisiana legislators have come up with a sterling idea: Pray. So, today across the gulf states and beyond, these legislators urge us "to pray for an end to this environmental emergency, sparing us all from the destruction of both culture and livelihood."
Besides the fact that prayer won't [likely] make a bit of difference, why should a supposed supreme being listen to the prayers anyway? We -- not he or she -- willfully created this unfolding nightmare. Our arrogance and greed set the stage for this environmental calamity. If you genuinely believe that we are his/her children, then since we made our bed, as a good parent figure, he/she should allow us to lie in it.
When parents constantly clean up their children's messes, what kind of lesson do the children learn? We all know the answer to that question! Children become MORE irresponsible and a sense of entitlement pervades their personalities. They come to believe that the rules of life don't apply to them.
So, if there is a god up there somewhere, my suggestion is that he/she put on the earphones today and pay no attention to the millions of prayers teleported towards the heavens. Our society has created this mess and now we must deal with the repercussions*.
Beyond that, if all the people hitting their knees in prayer would spend as much time thinking about ways to mitigate the current situation, I bet that would prove to be a lot more beneficial anyway.
*Note: I realize this may sound harsh, but this is what happens when shortsighted humans screw with Mother Nature. The county I live in once boasted numerous old-growth forests and this drove our economy.
Unfortunately, greed led to ALL of the old-growth to be cut (save for a small protected area on Long Island in our bay) within a few generations. Not only has this led to mudslides, silt filling up our pristine bay and degraded habitat, but timber jobs have been slashed in recent years because there are now less mature trees to cut.
Along with overfishing, the local economy here is dismal, at best. Good paying jobs are few and far between. We have no one to blame except ourselves. We have and will continue to suffer the repercussions from the lust for short-term profits (at the expense of all else) in the past.
The saddest part is that there's not a whole helluva lot we can do it about it today. We can't put the old-growth back!
Besides the fact that prayer won't [likely] make a bit of difference, why should a supposed supreme being listen to the prayers anyway? We -- not he or she -- willfully created this unfolding nightmare. Our arrogance and greed set the stage for this environmental calamity. If you genuinely believe that we are his/her children, then since we made our bed, as a good parent figure, he/she should allow us to lie in it.
When parents constantly clean up their children's messes, what kind of lesson do the children learn? We all know the answer to that question! Children become MORE irresponsible and a sense of entitlement pervades their personalities. They come to believe that the rules of life don't apply to them.
So, if there is a god up there somewhere, my suggestion is that he/she put on the earphones today and pay no attention to the millions of prayers teleported towards the heavens. Our society has created this mess and now we must deal with the repercussions*.
Beyond that, if all the people hitting their knees in prayer would spend as much time thinking about ways to mitigate the current situation, I bet that would prove to be a lot more beneficial anyway.
*Note: I realize this may sound harsh, but this is what happens when shortsighted humans screw with Mother Nature. The county I live in once boasted numerous old-growth forests and this drove our economy.
Unfortunately, greed led to ALL of the old-growth to be cut (save for a small protected area on Long Island in our bay) within a few generations. Not only has this led to mudslides, silt filling up our pristine bay and degraded habitat, but timber jobs have been slashed in recent years because there are now less mature trees to cut.
Along with overfishing, the local economy here is dismal, at best. Good paying jobs are few and far between. We have no one to blame except ourselves. We have and will continue to suffer the repercussions from the lust for short-term profits (at the expense of all else) in the past.
The saddest part is that there's not a whole helluva lot we can do it about it today. We can't put the old-growth back!
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