I wrote this a while back, while I was dramatic, possibly because I was a teacher...

If you could read the next chapter of your life, would you do it? If yes, would you be willing to make a change if necessary?

If you could read the a book documenting your child's life, would you do it? If yes, would you be willing to step back, address how your actions may have positively or negatively affected your child and change them?

If you could read the next chapter in the Earth's lifestory- maybe the next 50-500 years, would you do it? If yes, would you alter your lifestyle so that man was not such a negative biophysical force on this planet?

Disappointingly, most people only have ever considered the 1st question. The 2nd question comes up, proving that we are not completely self-centered. However, the 3rd question does not come up enough, and when it does denial is the result. As a species, we are not thinking in the long-term as we should. We are the self proclaimed "most powerful, intelligent, and dominant species that ever existed" and yet we have not as a species, as a nation, as a community, and for many, as an individual, not addressed the local and global environmental problems that are heavily prominent today ............................ It's disheartening to me....................We all live in bubbles, but we must remember that we find ourselves in a 12 mile film (6miles down, 6 miles up) where all life, as we know it, exists. All of our actions are felt at the global scale........ Go for a walk tomorrow, not down the street, not in a park, but in a secluded place, somewhere on a mountain, in a forest, or by a meandering river. Feel that moment for more than 5 minutes. By feel, I mean leave all your worries-cell phones, engagments, mental stresses- behind and be in that moment at that time. Stay in that secluded natural setting for an hour or so. Tell me what that feels like, .......really write or email me.......because all our environmental problems are not going to be important/urgent until we all realize what a gift we have. At that time, you may begin to ask yourself that 3rd question. Then we can all join together and get to work.
---Riley's thoughts at 11:54 pm EST on 7/2/06