The Miles Are Getting Longer...

I think about you a lot.

While driving along back roads, when I'm sitting in my room painting my nails, when I'm grocery shopping, all sorts of different times for various reasons.

I think about the things we did together, all the years you have spent with me, you've helped me grow and become who I am. You have influenced who I am more so that you know. Trips to see interesting places, in the city and around, planting flowers, going to shows and learning about all the beautiful things there are in this world. Listening to stories of the places you've seen and the things you've done.

It was always nice to have you so close by when things were going wrong. It was so nice to have a place to go when I didn't feel comfortable anywhere else. Through bullying, through divorce, through the general confusion of a young girl trying to figure out friends and how this living thing works, you were always there. If I ever needed anything, anything at all, you were a phone call away.

I drove past the farm a couple weeks ago. It feels empty knowing it's no longer ours. It's a decision that I know was difficult for you, and I know it was the right thing to do, but it doesn't mean I don't miss it. One of the few places that never changed, not even a little bit, throughout my life. With parents moving, divorce and remarriage, there wasn't much else that didn't change.

I miss you.

I miss seeing you every wednesday at lunch time, I miss driving to the farm, picking rhubarb and walking the back road and just talking to you. I miss Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving at your house, in the dining room, with the whole family.

I'm blessed, because I've had so many wonderful chances to get to know you, to learn from you, and just to spend time with you. And I'm blessed because you're not gone yet. It's difficult to see you as you are now. It's so different from the you I knew just over a year ago, but I'm blessed to have you here the way you are, healthy and present.

Most days, I just wish I had taken more time to talk to you before all of this. Learn about your life a little more, your childhood, and your dreams. Dragged you up to the farm a few more times before it sold and down the road.
But I guess there is no point in wishing for things that can't be changed. So I'll just have to spend what time I can with you now. It's different, but I don't want to have anything else to regret.

- xx, K.

In The End We're All The Same...

What is morally correct?

Is it right to do what is in the best interest of humans, whether it is their wants or needs, at all costs?
Or are we responsible for the environment and the other creatures that have less capability to defend themselves against our selfish manipulation of Earthly conditions?

I believe that most people would tend to agree, in theory at the least, that we are obligated to ourselves as well as the rest of the living things on this planet equally. We all live here. We must all work together in order for our needs to remain satisfied. Humans have the upper hand in that they are capable of changing the way things work to allow for favourable conditions. Unfortunately, what is favourable in our wants does not always translate to being favourable for anything else.

I'm in the middle of writing an essay about the moral obligation a corporation has to the environment in terms of the production of a product, though capable of generating great revenue, that has monumental effects on wildlife. It's unfortunate, as I read into the topic, how hollow peoples' words really are.

I cannot, off the top of my head, think of someone who would outwardly state that personal wants of material goods are more important than the livelihood of our forests and oceans. But then again I cannot, off the top of my head, think of a person who is denying themselves these material goods in order to spend their money and their time on something that will aid in the preservation of these same forest and oceans and all of the creatures who call these places home.

I wrote a speech some 4 or 5 years ago regarding the importance of the shark species to the balance of the ocean ecosystem, and the detrimental effects that the depletion of this species could have on our wellbeing. I had great feedback from the shocking work I'd done and the terrifying statistics that supported my argument. I urged people to aid in the case; if you were unwilling to actively participate then donations or simply avoiding consumption of sharks was what I asked.

The fact that people did not do much to support my cause was not surprising to me. What shocked me was how quickly people ignored it. Out of sight, out of mind.

This is not meant to guilt you into donating to animal sanctuaries or anything like that. This was, however, intended to supply something to mull over in your little brain for a while. When you know in your heart what the right thing to do is, why do you comply with your desire to be lazy and your desire to blend in? Why do so few of us embrace the challenge of making the things we do less toxic to those around it? Whether it's the ocean, the sharks, or foreign children who work to support their families in extremely hostile conditions.

We ignore things that we find unpleasant. But that makes us weak. We are unaware of our surroundings, however don't you believe for a second that they have disappeared. Quite the contrary, this ignorance allows for greater disasters to brew.

- xx, Kelly.