Once again, I have read something in A Sand County Almanac that has caught my attention. Here is an excerpt from the book starting on page 67:
"When some remote ancestor of ours invented the shovel, he became a giver: he could plant a tree. And when the axe was invented, he became a taker: he could chop it down. Whoever owns land has thus assumed, whether he knows it or not, the divine functions of creating and destroying plants.
Other ancestors, less remote, have since invented other tools, but each of these, upon close scrutiny, proves to be either an elaboration of, or an accessory to, the original pair of basic implements. We classify ourselves into vocations, each of which either wields some particular tool, or sells it, or repairs it, or sharpens it, or dispenses advice on how to do so; by such division of labors we avoid responsibility for the misuse of any tool save our own. But there is one vocation--philosophy--which knows that all men, by what they think about and wish for, in effect wield all tools. It knows that men thus determine, by their manner of thinking and wishing, whether it is worth while to wield any."
I find this very interesting. Man has made himself a kind of "god" over the earth around him: deciding where to plant new life, and where to take it away. Our whole society seems to revolve around this. It is true that our jobs are a division of the "original pair of basic implements." These divisions, like Aldo Leopold said, make it easy for us to avoid the responsibility for the misuse of other tools in different divisions. We are only concerned with our own tools, and not as concerned with what others are doing. We sometimes get the attitude of, "well, I did my part. I'm not in control of the other parts and it isn't my job to make sure they are doing the best they can with their tools." In reality, wouldn't it be best if we all worked together? Shouldn't society work in an informal checks and balances system? One part does its job in cooperation with the other parts, and it depends on the other parts to do their jobs the right way. Shouldn't we call out those who are misusing their tools? Shouldn't we be concerned when others are wasting our precious resources, even if it doesn't directly affect us? If you think about it, everything that is done in this world affects us one way or other. It doesn't have to directly affect us; there are many indirect effects of other's actions. We should want to make the world a better place. We should want to help others when they need it. We should want to be mindful and respectful of our earth and all of the resources it contains. We should be the ones who make others see just how strong of an impact they make. Many reasons for misuse of tools today stem from lack of education about the tools. Shouldn't it be our moral imperative to inform others? We have to work together in our society. We shouldn't be so tunnel visioned and focused on our own lives that we just look over and around everyone else. Let us all work as one society. Let us all be creators and destroyers, but let us be those things in a balance that will positively affect the world around us. Let us be one.
