Before I decided to rewrite this essay, I went to an online dictionary to reconnect with the word nature. It had several different meanings that I had forgotten such as the essential qualities and characteristics (the nature of fire), causal agent creating and controlling things in the universe (laws of nature), emotional and intellectual attributes (his nature), a particular type of thing (matters of a personal nature), and of course, the natural physical world.

I want to talk about the last definition, the most common, the one that I am sure everyone picked-Nature. When I was going through my save mother nature phase, I used to read and study tidbits from PETA and WWF. I do agree that we should take care of and conserve our fellow travelers on earth. We all live and all die.

But, one of the notions that I could not understand and still cannot accept is that thought that humans are not part of nature. How is this so? If you talk to the evolutionary scientists, we are late cousins (40,000 years or so) to the chimpanzees. We roamed the plains of Africa, protecting our families from predators. We evolved with advantages of a brain, opposable thumbs, and throat and mouth structure to talk.

Even creationists believe that we were created by the same God that created the beasts and plants of the earth. So how did these radical idealists (PETA and others) came up with the idea that we are not a part of nature?

Nature is not kind. It is the survival of the fittest out there.

I grew up on a farm and spent most of my younger years from nine years old to twenty-two or so in the desert. The lizards ate the flies, the cats ate the mice, the rabbits ate the gardens, the coyotes ate the rabbits, and so on and so forth. Each lifeform lived on the other lifeform.

The difference I saw between other animals and humans was the cruelty factor. When a coyote catches and kills a rabbit, it is fast and economical. Some humans are quick and kill economically, but others are cruel. We used to have poachers drive into the desert with their trucks and lights. They would chase the animals until the animals (rabbits... deer) were exhausted. Then the poachers would shoot them. Some of the poachers were so drunk that they couldn't kill the poor animal. They disabled them. Sometimes they would leave an aftermath that would make you ill.

But, as part of nature, we do have an ability to enjoy nature.

If you admit that humans are a part of nature, then you have to agree that we have brought to our world many good things such as art, architecture, even technology. We worry that many species have become extinct since our rise to the top of the food chain. Even so, species have been going extinct for a long time. And, new species develop.

So one day we might become the dinosaurs of the past. One day others will or will not look for us in the bones of the earth. One day our part in nature may be over. Let's enjoy what we have now. It is the nature of things.

Learn more about this author, Cyn Bagley - Memoirs Steward.
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