Ticked off

© harrington

Would you care if you had to live in a world without butterflies or moths? What about dragonflies? Robins? Eagles? Hawks? Owls? What if the only place you could see them was in a zoo? What if there were only one zoo in Minnesota? In the U.S.? Would it be OK to let all non-human critters just exist in cages? Are you wise enough to begin to unravel the world and just save the important pieces? Monarch butterflies need milkweed. Milkweed spoils suburban lawns. All the beautiful, green, Kentucky blue grass in the world won't support Monarch butterflies. Long ago, one of my favorite writers, Gene Hill, taught me a lot about the relatedness of all things to each other when he explained to his five-year-old daughter Jennifer that the reason there are dogs is so that ticks will have something to bite. He went on to explain the reason people hunt is to have an excuse for a house full of dogs who exist to support ticks. Once I had read and understood his wonderous logic, I realized I needed to not mess up what I didn't understand. That's worked out pretty well for me so far. How about you?