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This I Believe
I believe in upholding reverence for all life. I believe that humanity has a responsibility to the earth and to the life that we share our experience with.
As a child, I found joy digging in the dirt, examining the miracle of life. Everything creepy-crawly was fascinating to me, and I spent countless hours in my backyard exploring what wonders lay beneath. Although some people might be repulsed by this notion, these creatures did not represent slimy pests to me. Rather, such experiences in the natural world taught me about the diversity of life that could be found in any microcosm. I felt attuned with the cycles of life, my favorite being the spring. During these budding months, I could watch the egg sacks of praying mantises as they opened or collect robin-blue egg shells that had fallen from the nests. This was where I felt a strong connection to the natural cycles of creation. This connection has inspired awe in me that I feel strongly to this day. It is a feeling deep within me that has inspired my passions and pursuits as an environmentalist.
As I grew older, I discovered that this reverence for life was not shared by all of humanity. Rather than respecting the natural world as a community of life, the environment has been valued in terms of the resources that could be exploited. Industrialization has turned life into an industry, and systematically destroys the essential diversity that provides richness to the human experience. Our self-inflicted ecological crisis has reached such a point that we no longer endanger isolated bioregions. So many toxins have been spewed into the atmosphere as a result of our industrial greed that the climate of our planet is changing at an alarming rate. Climate change threatens all life forms by altering fundamental natural cycles, giving little time for evolutionary responses. These detrimental impacts are visible today as polar bears lose their habitat of sea ice, the sex of sea turtle eggs is skewed, whales have less krill to feed on, and coral reefs are bleached, to cite just a few examples. Climate change also has a detrimental impact on cultures and humanity's well-being as more people are becoming environmental refugees. Little is being done to curb this crisis, and, within our lifetime, the ecological functioning of planet earth will be forever altered.
I believe that my connection to all life forms prevents me from sitting back and watching this catastrophe. I believe that we should understand our place in our regional ecosystems and communities, as well as pledge our allegiance to the earth as a whole. I believe that all creatures, whether they are found in my backyard or halfway around the globe, should not suffer as a result of human greed. The reality of climate change is here and now; it is the environmental battle of our generation and generations to come. In honor of all life, I am dedicating myself to preventing this worldwide ecological crisis.
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10 Comments so far
Show AllChange in the world will happen when more people realize that what they do to others they are doing to themselves. Every problem in the world spawns from people thinking we are separate from each other.
Michelle:
Your generation gives us hope.
"Be the change you want to see in the world".
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win."
Ghandi
what beautiful words and such a tragedy. my thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends and to the beautiful world she envisioned and embodied
Michelle Quinn is the type of person one would wish to have as a good friend.
On the subject of life, the tiny plant life called pytoplankton which float in our ocean's waters, are the key for the planet's and all of it's varied life forms survival. Those trillions of plants, produce 70% of the oxygen in our atmosphere. We are eradicating them with man made polution, just like we are killing off many other specie of life. When the pytoplankton are reduced by another 20 to 30%, say goodby to your loved ones. At the present time, it will not be very long before that will be necessary, perhaps five to ten years,___ maybe less.
I, feel my heart is wounded by your passing on, even though your in a much better place now in GODS heart. Know that all of life on earth sheds tears on your leaving us ,for there is few love caring people like you on Planet Earth.
It seems to me that the beautiful emotions and beliefs of this person represents the highest evolution of the human spirit. Why most of the world fails to see or appreciate this spirit or these sentiments is a mystery to me. All, or at least most of us, have somewhere in our soul the desire and ability to transend ourselves, to be touched and moved to action by positive, good, almost spiritual emotion. We all see this outpouring of good will from time to time, usually in times of disaster, when much of the world rallies to help the victoms. But absent the clear evidence of disaster or evil, or even in spite of it, we are unmoved, and content to live out our little mundane lives, even if we have a longing in our soul to be more of a force for good. Only a few are able to rise above that, and actually work for the salvation of us all. God help us.
Michelle...you're wings...they shine...and urge us all to take flight in a surge towards REALITY...that only WE can save ourselves.
Blessed Be Dear Sister,
allisone
There is only one life in this Universe, and WE are all it! From the smallest microbe to the great whales, WE are all one. Until we accept that, we are doomed. I think Michelle truly accepted that. Bless her.
Can someone explain what happened to this woman?
PJD:
You asked what happened to Michelle. I live in Burlington, VT wher she went to school, and she was walking home one night and was brutally killed. It was such an absolutely senseless waste of life, and after reading this I realize it was even more tragic than I thought before.
You can learn more of what happened here:
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=search&s_search_type=keyword&p_product=BFPB&p_theme=gannett&s_site=burlingtonfreepress&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=michelle%20gardner%20quinn&p_text_advanced-0=(michelle%20gardner%20quinn)