While reading the comments folks made on yesterday’s blog about how I’d save the rattlesnake form being needlessly killed by that man, I grew puzzled, disturbed and then I was downright upset.
Perhaps it’s because of how I was raised—a deep appreciation of nature, all nature—ingrained deep within my fibers, or maybe that’s just the way I was born. Either way, I couldn’t imagine harming one of nature’s creatures unless they posed a direct threat to someone or me I was with, meaning they were in the actual act of attacking.
Living where I do, I’m mindful that it is I in the animals’ habitat, not the other way around. As such, I have the utmost respect for their tolerance with allowing me safe passage time and time again through their inner sanctity. I haven’t always been granted that same safe passage by people I’ve come upon while up on the mountain, but the animals have always let me alone while bringing me great inner peace at being made privy to their existence.
Am I a huge fan of snakes? No. Do I think they’re cuddly and sweet? No. Do I, or have I, ever owned any as pets? No. Then why should I care about what happens to a random rattlesnake up on a mountain trail? Well…perhaps I shouldn’t, but the fact is, I do. Always have. Always will. Numerous times per year, I stop someone from harming one of nature’s creatures up on the mountain trails I traverse.
I do so as a means to help educate folks and to pay homage to the magnificent critters, and yes, that includes rattlesnakes, I come across while on my mountain journeys. Is my one small voice making a difference? Raising awareness? Helping to save nature’s fine critters? Who’s to say? I don’t do what I do to gain huge recognition or to change the world. Instead, I speak out because it seems to be the right thing to do. And if that includes raising awareness one rattlesnake sighting at a time, then so be it. 
No comments:
Post a Comment