What is at stake when everything becomes endangered?

While driving and listening to NPR (become a contributor, www.NPR.org) I heard that the Monarch butterfly is endangered. 

As the sad news passed through my thoughts, I couldn’t help think, when was the last time I seen a Monarch? Would that be the last? Then the report continued and there is a disturbingly long list of animals at risk and on a list waiting approval for federal protection. How does one decide what is worth protecting? It’s hypocritical that humans are responsible to authorize protection for endangered species when we are the ones that threaten the animal kingdom.  

My little boy is mildly obsessed with saber tooth tigers. When you ask him what his favorite animal is, that will be his answer. While the prehistoric tiger has been extinct for over 10,000 years, it is famously remembered. Considering the growing list of present animal populations threatened of becoming extinct, what are we willing to lose and just remember? 

As we find new meaning in the spirit of the holidays+Covid I find myself wanting to give my children the gift of witnessing all the natural beauty of the land we live with and an honorable duty to protect it.  I share the knowledge of what plants provide and how they heal and nourish. The birds song and how to listen. I will teach my sons that just because you can does not mean you should. Our world and the life that comes from it is not ours to conquer or take. 

To my sons, be gentle and kind. Hold all life as sacred whether it be human, a tortoise, a tiger, a tree, or a delicate butterfly. 

May we honor all life as the same and eliminate the danger we pose to ourselves and our beautiful world.