23 April 2007

This land is Your Land...

While taking our walk this morning, I was thinking about the area I live in and Earth Day and how very differently we all view our place on this planet. I was reminded of our tour several years ago to Scotland and our reactions.
We were aware that our time in America is historically very short compared to the people who have lived in Great Britain-especially in northern most territory, which is known as Scotia, or Alba or Scotland.
Many of the historic sites that we visited contained evidence of civilizations from over 5000 years ago. Scotland is a relatively small country, I think no bigger than some of our larger states.
And yet, over time, many different civilizations have lived on that land and in spite of all the habitation-the country is remarkably beautiful, pristine and untouched.

One of the things, I commented on during our first tour was the lack of clutter (and you know how fond I am of clutter). There were no junk cars, no abandoned farm equipment, no trash in people's yards, no abandoned dilapidated houses and no graffiti. I'm referring not only to the remote Highlands, but also to the urban areas around the large cities.
While there is some new construction in the urban areas, it seems that families tend to stay in their own homes, generation after generation or the housing market remains stable enough that people can buy and sell. And while I didn't research too deeply, I felt very peaceful while I was there because it seemed that the homes were so well maintained and valued. Maybe there's a different value system. If it's your "homeland".

Most of us here are the progeny of immigrants. I would liken the feelings of ownership to those I have when visiting a motel versus a friend or family's home. Maybe that's why we don't value our environment, because we feel transient. I don't know the answer, but I do know that while I was walking this morning; the things I found on my walk were, beer cans, shotgun shells, men's underwear, burned trash, barn waste, and animal remains.. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy the sparsity and stark beauty of the high desert. When I am a loss to explain is who and why individuals would choose to use this beautiful land for a garbage dump? To me. It bespeaks a deeper disregard for the sanctity of living things, large or small, near or far. I don't have answers, only more questions, but it is patently clear to me that there are more individuals out there who "don't get it" than do.
"Take me home country roads"

3 comments:

A.Fanny said...

I also wonder why people use the land as a dump. I do have a theory - maybe a sexist one - that women typically clean up after the men in the family and thereby teach their girls that that's their role too. Or maybe it's genetic - that men are just built to create gooey messes and women clean them up in self defense!

Wicked Thistle said...

Men's...underwear?

Ew.

moi said...

I've run into stray underwear in the forest as well. Ew is right. Not only is it mystifying (like shoes in the road), it's also downright creepy. These theories are interesting – the transient and the genetic. I'll add one of my own: the dumb ass.

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