Sunday, May 30, 2010

'Human' Selfishness

Or maybe it's sub-human selfishness.

Many years ago when I was considerably younger, I remember going out to my grandfather's farm where there'd been excavating going on.  Eventually, the pits filled with water and were kept as ponds, and my family would go back in the summer and swim in some of them.
Sometimes, while my parents were talking to my grandfather and step-grandmother, my two sisters and I would walk back to the ponds.  One time, along the path at the top of the hill, my one sister screamed and went running back:  there'd been a small snake at the side of the trail.  Another time, following a strange noise, I came upon two sets of eyes, one strangely on top of the other...then I realized it was a snake swallowing a frog.  Nothing I could do for the frog at that point.
The ponds were a place where I felt at peace:  it was quiet, with trees around, and birds, but no people.  I started to dream about the ponds, mostly about people who lived 'under' the ponds.  They weren't good, they weren't bad, they were just there.  I couldn't help but wonder if there had been people living there, long before my grandfather, and the dreams were showing me what once was.

Several years back, the ponds became a place where a few people (with permission of course!) could set up their trailers and camp through the summer, and eventually became--aptly named--The Ponds trailer and rv park.

Close by I guess is an area that's popular for dirt bikes and atv's, I am not sure if they have permission to be on that land or not, but do know they have no permission to be on my family's property.  The owners of the vehicles modify them for maximum noise level, and have been destroying the peace and tranquility of the Ponds.  Yesterday, the Ponds was in the local daily newspaper, the problems with the 'men' riding these vehicles has escalated.

I am outraged that they were confronted doing something wrong, and have the nerve to swear and attempt to run someone over.  If they'd had just a BIT of consideration for other people, this would never have happened.  But apparently, it is more important for them to make their off-road vehicles as noisy as possible and race and rev to their heart's content than it is for other people to enjoy nature.  Definitely a case of human selfishness.
I do hope these 'men' are caught.   Please note the quotes, I use the term 'men' loosely, since I'm really not sure you can be called a man if you intentionally run over a woman and a defenceless man for trying to calmly stand up for their rights.  Or maybe the people under the ponds will rise up to defend the land that long before had been theirs. 

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