Love, Peace, Respect
Some days are just strange. This afternoon is one of the weirdest I’ve had in a long time. It has reminded me of why I love animals. And why I want to hide and leave FaceBook forever.
A friend texted me about the bald eagle that died in Gulf State Park. I posted it on FaceBook but then so did other folks. And the proverbial shit-storm of a public relations nightmare is happening in coastal communities here in Alabama. People are blaming a cable that stretches across part of the lake for being the root of all evil in Gulf Shores, Alabama. I guess that haven’t noticed the spaghetti web of power lines criss-crossing the island that offer much more hazards to birds such as eagles and osprey, pelicans, terns, gulls. Perhaps they haven’t noticed the concrete and glass wall of condos that line the beaches and cause more bird deaths and interruption of sea turtle nesting than we, as humans, ever realize.
It’s sad…it’s terrible…it’s really awful that a bald eagle died. No denying that. But to blame a state park zip line isn’t a rational way to deal with grief.
I worked as a guide during the spring of last year at the zip line course. It was an amazing experience to witness families, kids, teens and even a veteran paratrooper from World War II do that course. The guides help people connect with nature and teach them about the wildlife found around our beautiful coastal area. The positive energy generated from children, teens, moms and dads, grandparents experiencing that course is amazing!
But today, it’s like an old-fashioned witch hunt. I don’t understand. The hate and violent words being spoken are beyond belief. Can we just stop the finger-pointing and grieve? Can this bring us together rather than create more division, more separateness? Can’t we feel the pain of loss without lighting fires of hatred?
I’m sitting at my desk in my upstairs office. The live oak tree shelters the large, arched window but I can see the soft sunset colors of pale pink and blue. A large vulture just flew past with several friends of his that have been hanging out in the neighborhood this week. Native cultures thought vultures to symbolize purification and the cycle of death and rebirth.
Isn’t it time we learn how to grieve loss, love others, have respect? Perhaps the vultures are a reminder to purify the way we interact with one another. This cycle of death and rebirth applies not only to physical life but to thoughts, emotions, behaviors.
Native cultures saw eagle as the illuminator of spirit, healing and creation. Let us honor the life of this magnificent bird by healing the negative attitudes, critical finger-pointing and learn to love each other. “To align oneself with eagle medicine is to take on the responsibility and the power of becoming so much more than you now appear to be.” * Let us do that in memory of this beautiful creature.
*Ted Andrews, Animal Speak
4 Replies to “Love, Peace, Respect”
It is a crime against nature that the state would mar the state park with multi-story towers and dozens of cables of Gulf Adventure Center that are killing birds (and by the author’s own indication, a bald eagle). Parks and refuges exist to give wildlife the last remaining places that they can exist without commercial development. With power lines criss-crossing the island and condos lining the beaches, maintaining the parks as protected undeveloped habitat becomes more important than ever. How many deaths to we grieve before we finally act? Do we keep our parks undeveloped or do we choose ziplines, t-shirts, and big ugly signs of an “adventure center”? The author has made her position very clear; she chooses profits over protection.
Let me be perfectly clear, Mr. Thomas, I do NOT put profit over wildlife. But let’s hypothetically agree to make Gulf State Park a wildlife sanctuary. Let’s stop all traffic through there. Let’s close the campground, the golf course, the beach pavilion, the cabins. Let’s prohibit all vehicles. Let’s fence humans out completely. Let’s tear down every man-made structure in the park. But wait…that’s not the mission of the park, which is managed by the Department of Conservation. The definition of Conservation is wise use of resources. It is not a wildlife preserve. There is a huge difference in the intention of these two management styles. So like it or not, it isn’t a wildlife preserve, it’s a conservation area where humans, elements, wildlife, land all interact and co-exist. I wish that people who are attacking those of us who appreciate the value of the zip line would harness their hatred and energy and turn it to the governor who seems adamant about using funds set aside for environmental restoration to destroy dunes, sea turtle habitat and mostly pristine beach to build another series of buildings. I’m outraged that nobody seems to give a damn about the beach and ill-use of funds designed for enrichment of the environment yet are willing to spew hatred and anger over an outdoor recreation area.
Well stated Simone. Have any of the people commenting lately paid any attention to the Governor’s planned use of the BP NERDA funds?? Let me enlighten them….a convention center and hotel next to the Gulf State Fishing Pier….in the CRITICAL habitat of the Federally endangered Alabama Beach Mouse. A pristine stretch of public beach with a dune restoration in progress. That’s just what the beach needs, yet another building on the beach. More windows for birds to fly into, more lights to confuse the sea turtles….HMMM!!! I hope these same folks will be as vocal toward this travesty!!!
Exactly my question….not only Beach Mouse but sea turtle nesting area…one of the few places on the Alabama coast where there isn’t light pollution. And I believe a complete mis-use of funds designated to restore the environment, not destroy it.