The Environment

 There are very few words more inclusive yet so personally unique than those we carefully chose to describe our environment. Even as we search for common ground upon which to agree, we quantify our findings, each of our personal opinions based on its impact on us as individuals.

Still, in the end we all end up huddled together as one mass of humanity looking for a solution to a common problem. Slowly we surrender to the knowledge that we are all a product, or sometimes a by-product of our environment.

Few can doubt the passion of an environmentalist seeking to preserve and protect the natural environment from the ravages of mankind. Nor can we find reasonable the ravings of someone who steps over the line and seeks to remove mankind altogether from the equation and use isolation as a solution.

Caught in this tug-o-war there is only one escape. Again, as I said earlier, we must surrender to the knowledge that we are often considered either a product or a by-product of our environment. As simple as these two sounds, when we apply them to ourselves the implications can be profound. A product is always the final results, whereas a by-product is often thought of only as an unintentional consequence.

Regardless, when we as humans begin to see ourselves as a product or a by-product we have lost our identity and joined the huddled masses of humanity. There is but one phrase that describes this condition best. We have achieved the denial of our individual responsibility. Unless we as individuals do our part to shape our environment, we become an unintentional consequence.

I, for one, refuse to surrender. If we make that positive step forward and accept responsibility for shaping the environment in which we live, our personal lives and the destinies we pursue will never be viewed as an unintentional consequence. Instead, we can take some credit for the next generation we produce.

As we seek some wisdom as to our roles as caretakers, role models, and shepherds to the masses, it matters not if we are talking about the natural environment, our home and work environments, or any or all of the many social environments that shape the masses. The solution appears to be the same. What we should all seek is to prevent anyone from ending ups as “an unintentional consequence.”

Anyone who feels that in their passion “the end justifies the means” leaves a trail of distraught humans being behind them. And, in their denial of responsibility they see them as sacrificial lambs for the greater good. This is not my idea of what a good shepherd looks like. It is important that we see all our environments as shared ones, and never allow our passions to blind us to our responsibilities for each others welfare.