Earth...Home

   The other day I almost got creamed (an old phrase left over from childhood), a new red pickup running a red light at full speed with me being the first driver crossing and destined for what's called a T-bone (a car slams into you from the side).  It's a big intersection, and on a hill, and has been the scene of other accidents.  One which I witnessed was another red-light runner only she swerved, clipped the crossing car's bumper and just like in a Hollywood movie, her car flipped onto its roof and spun like a top...into oncoming traffic.  The width of the intersection is deceiving and I think that drivers tend to see the light turn yellow and hit the accelerator, only to realize too late (once they are in the intersection) that they won't make it, at least not before crossing traffic is already well into the middle of the road.  In my case, I was close enough to see the face of the young male driver, his expression of shock and realization coming way too late as he slammed on his brakes, already well in the middle of the crossing.  Perhaps he zoned out listening to his favorite song, or his mind was elsewhere, texting (illegal in this state while driving) or whatever.  Lucky for me, I drive just like the stereotype of an old man, slow, cautious, looking every which way...I saw him coming.  Had he hit me I (and my car) would have been totaled, or he would have likely swerved and perhaps spun into other traffic or off the curb and into a light pole.  One or more of us would have likely perished (other drivers coming in the opposite direction of me also took the time to look and stopped before entering the intersection).

    Sometimes it takes moments like that to make one realize how quickly things can change, and also how much we take for granted simply because it is such a normal part of our lives and will always be there (or so we think).  It reaches a point where it becomes mundane.  In relationships, avoiding this blase mindset often requires work to keep fresh (sadly), whether its a spouse or parent or child or pet.  So much to do in the day that the expendable allotment often becomes those key parts of your life...the one that gave birth to you, the one that you gave birth to, the animals that do not question or talk back but love you as if today is day one.  Our home is like that...today is Earth Day of course, a term once original and refreshing but now as close to ordinary as another charity's plea for help; a good cause and yes, our giving source of life, but there's so much to do and so little time...or so it seems.  But this earth, this planet, is our home.  Muck it up and likely we will be the ones to suffer...no Death Star here, for the earth was created with a nuclear force of sorts, all from a universe we barely comprehend.  But should that happen, this destruction of our home's stability and balance, life will change and that life just might be us and the species we know.  It's happened before, many times, a near-complete wipe out of species here and a rebirth of the planet.  But while we can't know what those other species thought, we can know what we think...this planet is all that we have.  And the blue skies or rain clouds or birds chirping are there everyday, day in and day out...beautiful but oops, gotta run, I'm late.  Earth is our home, our only home.  And while we may dream of Mars and other planets, we envision them as Earth-like.  A parent or spouse or child or pet passes away and we miss them deeply.  But ruin this planet, our home, and our ability to miss it will not be there...we'll be gone. 

    So on this Earth Day, I present something simple.  Today is the last day of the sale at National Geographic, a sale of some of their top photographs signed by the respective artists who took them.  But more importantly, the spectrum of pictures serve as a reminder of our home, the hidden beauty that we don't see, the crevices and peaks that we didn't know existed, formations which are as convoluted and as complicated as any of our relationships.  We need to explore both, to dig deeper and to really appreciate all that we apparently still take as verboten, as if we've seen it all and that's that.  Only it isn't.  On this day, Earth Day, give some thought to those you love, those you may think will always be there but perhaps not.  Or reverse it...watching that full-sized pickup come scrapingly close to ending my own stay here made me think of the ordinary as truly extra-ordinary.  Take nothing for granted...even our planet.

Photo by David Doubilet taken outside Papua New Guinea

Photo by Randy Johnson near the Platt River migration

Photo by Jim Richardson, Isle of Skye -- Scotland

Photo by Cory Richards, Karakoram Range -- Pakistan

Photo by Tim Laman of an orangutan in Borneo

Photo by Steve Winter, Bandhavgarh National Park -- India

   Life is precious, a word defined as: (of an object, substance, or resource) of great value; not to be wasted or treated carelessly.  Sounds like home....happy Earth Day.