"As the environment goes, so go we..."

I had a summer basketball camp coach drill this into our heads, that 'practice makes perfect'...only to have a star player show up during the session and say he'd rather us say 'perfect practice makes perfect!' I can't say it's perfect practice, but in once again pulling out my ungainly telephoto lens and putting it into use, I have found that I have much practice to go before reaching that adept zone to handhold a big telephoto lens for shooting things like my winged Brothers and Sisters, the Red-tailed Hawk. All of these shots came from early Sunday morning when I found the pair relaxing on a limb nearby...they visit with me often and have accepted my presence, and Mercy's, kinda sorta...

I hope you don't get tired of me posting these pictures (which should enlarge if you click on them)...they are therapy in many ways, and are nothing short of awesome at which to marvel...superior hunting machines with the keenest of eyes, sharpest of talons, most talented of winged flight...

...and in many of our backyards. We should all do our part to ensure they are protected, even as humans unwittingly overdevelop the landscape and remove crucial habitat...

These raptors, they are but one more litmus test for Society to gauge its level of self-destruction, which is arguably where many political decisions seem to be leading us these days...and we MUST accept personal responsibility to do what we can to avoid environmental disasters...

We were given ears to 'hear'...and Nature, at all times, speaks loudly to us if only we would open our closed minds to what we call 'progress'...arguably a substitute for profit-taking and greed on almost every front...and if we don't speak up for ourselves, no one else will. The 4-footed have no government representative...nor do the winged ones...nor do the slithery ones, or those that swim..."As the environment goes, so go we..."...

Sadly, these hawks nest in land slated for sale and more widespread development, adding travel woes to infrastucture that cannot handle the present load, much less the future one. I am not here to say the hawks have priority...but I am here to suggest that we are our own worst enemy, creating our own living nightmares, wishing we could blame someone or something else for the travel and social ills that we, ourselves, have created.

Which leads to a very powerful pivot point for us as a Society and World. We would do well to take the word "rights" and substitute "responsibilities" when assessing decisions. Yes, you have 'rights' to alter land, selling and developing homes and office parks that are already a dime a dozen...but what are your 'responsibilities' to the greater good of the community? Why do we consider 'progress' the building of something instead of the preservation of what already is? Progress would be for our elected officials to buckle down and say 'no' to certain developments once in a while instead of a giving out a widespread carte blanche for their developer buddies to proceed full speed ahead at every opportunity.

Stand up. Speak up. Or not. Just remember it is a personal choice each of us makes. May more and more of us back away from selfish 'rights' and embrace more unifying 'responsibilities' in our personal as well as professional lives.