A moment of Silence

The president of the US asked the entire country for a moment of silence today in response to Saturday's massacre outside the Safeway in Tucson, Arizona. The target, Congresswoman Gabriella Giffords now fights for her life, 6 yet others are dead. A federal judge, a loving husband, a little girl named Christina- Taylor Green among others.

As most of you probably know by now. Ms. Giffords was one of the members of congress on Sarah Palins "Hit List" a map of 20 congressional representatives that Palin wanted gone and emphasized that desire with emblazoned cross hairs over their districts on a map. 18 were ousted in the last election, that left two on the list. Giffords was one of them.

Some believe that hate speech leads to murder. Given that one may deduce a clear connection between Michele Bachmann's call to arms, Sarah Palin's hit list, Sharon Angle's suggestion that it is a good idea to shoot your opponent to death if you lose an election, and so on, with the Tucson Massacre, it might be a good idea to make that kind of hate-mongering activity illegal. Robert Brady is moving on that: the Democrat from-Pennsylvania, said he will introduce legislation making it a federal crime for a person to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a Member of Congress or federal official source. I will ask my representatives to extend that legislation to us all.

The truth is that everyday thousands dies. A lot of them are children, innocent people, and animals, whether it is through the madness of war, the starvation of poverty. Habitat destruction, chemical toxicity,The suicide of the hopeless, the ravages of disease, or the senseless random violence that devours our lives on a daily basis. It is time to turn the tides.

It is particularly on these occasions I take refuge in the bosom of our gentle habitat. sitting on the coast at Todd Point with our grandson,this past week in the warm sunshine watching the whales passion' through was a divine opportunity. This act illicits a state of reverence for life to which we are all invited. It's the connection that I spoke about while in Costa Rica with the crazy monkeys waking us up in the morning. It is the feeling that I'm part of this world. I am connected to all this.

When the birds starting falling from the sky on new years eve and continued all through the week, Starlings, grackles, red winged black birds, honey eaters, and tutle doves in Italy. My empathy meter flew off the charts. I was devastated brought to my knees in sorrow. I need now also acknowledge the death of two million fish in Chesapeake bay. 40,000 velvet crabs. Tons of bird and Fish death from Sweden, Kentucky, Britain, Brazil, New Zealand.

So far There are no logical explanation for these die offs. What are the reasons? you may wonder as do I, why we are not as obsessed with the untimely death and perhaps murder of massive wildlife as we are the murder of a few people. Some theorize that birds were scared to death, they were stressed out, they were hungry, it might have been cell towers, fireworks. As far as the birds falling down dead in Brooklyn and Queens,, we were told, "There were too many and were fed poisoned seed by the USDA".

There is a the theory that the death of the Arkansas red wing blackbirds was caused by the great boom of fireworks at midnight. Then there's hushed up news that the little Rock Air Force base was testing a chemical dispersant called phosgene and may have accidentally released it into the atmosphere on a test flight. (Coincidentally the Base has been shut down as of today). No one has mentioned the possible connection to the BP oil spill and the dispersant use Corexit that by now has evaporated into the sky and may now be death raining down.

Of course the major news media completely tracked the Arizona story all day and night and continue to investigate motive and impact on our culture.

Yet, There was little press coverage of the deaths of so many innocent creatures, Most went on with their daily lives without a pause. But, what if it were 2 million people instead of fish that washed up on shore, Or 5,000 folks that fell from the sky. or the USDA had put out poison spinach patches to thin our herd.

Is it true that we do not value the lives of these innocent creatures? We write it off to a general die off that is just part of nature. This is an arrogant stance that removes us from the reality of the web of life. We are so obsessed with the world wide web but not the reality of the web of life. It is a sad reflection on the consciousness of the human race when we have no reverence for the life around us. To think that we are immune from the implications of these dramatic events leaves us more vulnerable than ever.

Perhaps this is our pivot. Where we, in our moment of silence, as a nation, recognize cause and effect. Where we examine our cultural tendencies toward violent or poisonous solutions to political, philosophical, environmental and emotional disagreements. While I appreciate the President's call for a moment of silence. For all we have lost, sacrificed, wasted of precious life, we could all use a serious and thorough period of national mourning to truly digest, reflect and reconsider. For now, I think black arm bands are in order.