New Beginnings

I welcomed the New Year with the hopes of getting involved in causes which I felt were in my best interest to participate. However, the very first thing I had to take care of was myself....so I went through the wonderful procedure of a left knee arthroscope on January 4th. I have been slowly recovering. My surgeon "clipped" a tendon that was preventing my kneecap from sliding comfortably on my leg. I guess I was actually rubbing bone on bone. So now, here I am awaiting a full recovery and dealing with the fact that I will probably have to have an aspiration tomorrow. More good news. But, I have been dealing with this pain and irritation for so long, I'm just so excited to get it over with.

I also welcome this New Year with the hopes that the completely unnecessary dolphin slaughter will come to an end. Enough of this village and cultural tradition crap. This is 2010, time for humans to step up into the present day. Does anyone else wonder how it would be if "Planet of the Apes" really did happen? Why is it that I don't even have the heart anymore to root for my own species...I like to see the bear maul the camper, the cougar attack the hiker, the shark eat the diver. You know, if we had more sense and would leave these animals alone; let them stay in their natural habitat and enjoy their lives, perhaps maybe less people would get hurt. Why is it we are shocked when someone gets hurt by trying to get closer to nature? I'm sorry Steve Irwin was killed but wasn't it just a matter of time? I think he did a lot for raising awareness for animals in the wild but you can only wrestle with an anaconda so many times before you get the life squeezed out of you or end up with a sting ray's stinger shoved in your chest. Just as the death of the over-indulgent rock star should never shock us, the passing of one who continually takes their life in their hands in order to raise animal awareness should not come as a shock either.

The animal activist is a much different case than the local Joe who wants to get their "back to nature" moment caught on DVD to show his friends and family at the next BBQ. Hey guys...really, enough of the idiotic antics and realize that there are things in the wild that WILL KILL you....they don't care, nor will they sit and rationalize whether or not you would make a tasty meal. Get over yourself and appreciate nature the way it was meant to be appreciated - from afar.

I live in a state where there is never a shortage of news stories where some fool decided to get too close to something that they had no business "petting." How many times do we get to hear about the idiot who get his arm or leg yanked off by an alligator - too many to count. The most amazing thing about this is that these people had no idea that the 13 foot beast posed any threat to them...."Well, I've swam in that lake all of my life and I can't believe that this happened." Really, you can't believe that you just escaped with your pathetic life because you're an absolute moron for taking a dip in a lake after 5:00 p.m.? Wow, the audacity of people is incredible.

As we continue to plunder through this life as a human race, can we please try and do something for ourselves and our fellow planet mates? Let's let them have their space as we try and maintain our own? Let's try and utilize some common sense. If we are unable to figure out a way to be more humane humans, we might as well just look at these incidents as a sort of....culling process.