Every year the Redwoods are slightly different from the last. It isn’t the trees, they have remained relatively constant for hundreds and in some cases thousands of years. It isn’t the ebb and flow and the South Fork of the Eel River; the river is what the river is. The real change comes in the small things.
This year I see small ants checking everything out. They do not seem to be aggressive; I have not been bitten or even heard of someone having been attacked. They seem to be curious and inquisitive. They are like scouts out on the prowl, searching for anything resembling food or a threat to the others still in hiding. Single, tiny, and fragile – they are vulnerable to any and everything that I might do to them.
In the past I would have merely squashed them and moved on; comfortable that a pest was no longer in a position to do something against me. Ever since a friend gently carried an insect off a badminton court because life was and is precious I find that I cannot carelessly respond to any form of life around me. We do have a choice.
Ants, spiders, and small things live much of their life in the balance. Predators are all around and then there is the ultimate threat that comes from human beings. You and I have the ability to destroy – regardless or maybe because of our ignorance, knowledge, or motives.
I wonder if it ends there.
What was going on when I took advantage of the salesperson who gave me wrong change? Did I understand what was at stake when I exploited someone looking for work? How do I explain the casual response to life that my actions frequently demonstrate when it comes to small creatures that I do not understand?
“Don’t walk on the poor just because they’re poor, and don’t use your position to crush the weak, because GOD will come to their defense; the life you took, he’ll take from you and give back to them.” (Proverbs 22.22, 23)
