Priorities

 

One day last week, I had a brief but powerful fantasy. I was living in a small log house deep in the woods a few miles from town. I sensed a strong community, a shared sense of responsibility for the welfare of all beings, two-legged and four-legged. The elderly country veterinarian valued my work, considered me a colleague, and was known to tell his clients, “I’ve done all I can do; it’s time to call Pam.” This fleeting, delicious image seemed to emerge from a long-ago era, a hundred years ago, I thought.

When the image lifted, reality set in. A hundred years ago, people were dying of all manner of illnesses we now have cures for. Women in this country had next to no rights; people of color in this country had no rights at all. Humans used the Earth’s natural resources just as we do today: as though they belonged to us, as though they were limitless.   More