DADvocate

Hanging from the walls in various places where I work are monitors connected to our CCTV which shows information about company sales, events, new employees and such. It's a PowerPoint presentation and includes screen with a couple of quotes changed regularly. This past week included the quote below.

God loved birds and created trees. Man loved birds and created cages
- Jacques Duval

Mr. Duval apparently loved nature, or maybe just birds, and believed he was insightfully pointing out the evil of man towards nature and/or birds. In reality, he unfairly maligned humans.

Comparing people to God hardly constitutes a fair contrast. By definition, in Christianity anyway, God's knowledge, presence, love, compassion, etc is limitless. Humans fall far short of omnipresence and other infinite qualities. A fairer comparison would be us and ants.

Additionally, Duval ignores the large majority of people who also love nature and birds. During my life, I've known few people who kept birds in cages. I recall one teacher and a family in my neighborhood. Many more people set up bird feeders, birdbaths, create habitats attractive to birds, feed pigeons downtown and participate in other bird friendly activities.

Simply, I'm weary of those who believe finding fault with mankind shows wisdom. Perhaps Bill Ryerson, the President of the Population Media Center, who referred to children as parasites on the Mike McConnell Show epitomizes this mindset.

Humans are legitimate inhabitants of the Earth. Like every other organism on Earth, humans impact the environment. As the only truly self-aware being on Earth, humans realize much of their impact on Earth. Appreciation of the beauty and miracle of Earth probably belongs only to humans. I, for one, am more than a little tired of humans being labeled evil, destructive beings. Indeed, it is a sign of goodness that humans recognize evil.