While sitting on the beach I'm always hoping at least a little bit to see dolphins. I find it thrilling to find them. I call to the boys, 'look, dolphins!' My kids are barely interested.
Yesterday after the dolphins glided away and I continued to look for more, I realized that I wouldn't care too much if I never saw them again. Sure, it would be a little sad if they went extinct, if we lost the chance to see them ever again. We'd talk about what a bummer it was, how our kids and grandkids would be innocently missing out. We'd tell ourselves it sucks, that unfortunately this is just the way things are, and too bad for the planet that this is the economic system and these are the modes of production we inherited, for better and for worse. I might mention virtual reality, and how one day we'll get to experience them again. We'd get over it pretty quickly.
Really, if our loss of dolphins too became a cost of this modern American life, oh well. This is a great life, and I don't usually think about dolphins much anyway, so no big deal.
Really, if our loss of dolphins too became a cost of this modern American life, oh well. This is a great life, and I don't usually think about dolphins much anyway, so no big deal.
I tried to think of reasons to care about them, reasons I could use to argue for efforts to keep them and literally countless other creatures around, to not add them to the growing list of casualties of human consumption. They're beautiful, they're exciting, they increase the quality of our lives.
But the truth is they don't add much to the quality of our lives. They don't add much to my life, and I consider myself a fan of dolphins.
So why should I care enough to take actions I otherwise wouldn't, all for the welfare of a creature that I don't care much about?
My friend Alyce recently said to me, 'When your values are clear, your decisions are easy.' It's true for me. In any situation, if I remember to check in with my values, what I've committed to as a bigger picture, the choices ahead are generally clear, easy, and undoubtedly fulfilling.
Above all I value the well-being of life. I'm committed that my actions improve the well-being of life, and I consider this my life's top priority.
So I guess it doesn't matter much what I or you get out of the existence of dolphins, birds, bears, trees, other humans, or any other living creature. If I'm out to improve the well-being of life, there's just the next action to take to move in that direction.
Like writing this blog post. I'm a little embarrassed to publish it because it's not as insightful or thought-provoking as I'd like it to be. But it was the next action for me to take.
Like writing this blog post. I'm a little embarrassed to publish it because it's not as insightful or thought-provoking as I'd like it to be. But it was the next action for me to take.
What is it that you value above all else? Are you allowing it to move you to action you otherwise wouldn't take?
Thank you for reading. :)
Thank you for reading. :)
