A PROMISED LAND

I’m not sure what happened between here and there, between us and them. But somewhere between the glens of Ireland, the Black Forests of Germany, the vast reaches of Africa, the misty heights of Asia and the land which stretches from sea to shining sea, sometime between our land-worshipping great grandparents of the Emerald Islands and the land beneath the spacious skies, something snapped. Something was lost.

For millennia our ancestors relentlessly preserved and reverenced their lands. However, in just a few short centuries we have managed to use up and abuse our promised land.

It would be difficult to single out a cause for our wanton wastefulness of this beautiful land. Maybe the vastness of the land was too much to handle for those whose birthrights could be traced to restrictive Isles and mountain restraining valleys. Perhaps, those who came here from afar were missing that particle of their DNA which for centuries had caused their forefathers to repair, reuse and reinvent the precious little stuff they were able to accumulate. Or it could just be that abundance nullified the necessity of frugality and numbed desires to conserve what seemed like unlimited resources.

With seeming disregard for the lessons of the ancients and unfeeling hearts toward the generations who will reap the consequences of our wanton waste we fill our valleys and fertile fields with asphalt and concrete and try to feed an ever growing populace with meager harvests from rocky slopes and artificially energized soils.

With only a slight sigh, we watch the deforesting of our mountains while trying to foliate our arid deserts with diminishing portable water.

Proposition: The people of the United States of America in most instances have mismanaged their resources. The positive (nay) would not be a side of this debate one would choose to defend. It would be much easier for this statement to be sustained with the negative (yea) arguments; that with the exception of a few like Theodore Roosevelt and his ilk, (who now bear the derogatory label of ‘tree huggers) through whose efforts have come the preservation of national parks, we have not done a very good job.

Besides these treasured tracts of land which hopefully will be reserved for millennia, there is also another ray of hope which, if we are willing to search out and discover, shines brightly as a token example that we are not completely degenerate when it comes to honoring and respecting the resources of this wonderful land.

Lo and Hark! There may be a ray of hope! There may be something that our land filling throw away populace has and is doing very well.

On the island of Oahu, Hawaii, upon a prominent hill overlooking the Pacific, an area which surely could be used for a fantastic condominium development, remains a plot of hollow ground seemingly unspoiled and mainly as it was created by nature.

In San Diego, California, a beautiful point of land overlooking the broad expanse of the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean we find acreage preserved from the developers’ shovels.

In Washington, D.C., we can visit a vast tract of land which has resisted the lure or our office space mentality.

What is it that has caused an abrupt shift from our seemingly insatiable appetite to put even the most barren of spaces on the sales block and keeps these premium pieces of property, along with many others, protected from being occupied by high rise edifices?

Punch Bowl on Oahu, Point Loma near San Diego and the War Memorial in Washington, D.C., along with other plots of sacred soil scattered across this vast land, host National Memorial Cemeteries.

That these choice spaces have been consecrated is a perhaps positive and fitting indication that a spark of caring still rests in our collective souls about the wondrous land where we are privileged to abide.

May these spaces ever be dedicated and set apart – as a continuing reminder – how precious this Promised Land is – less we forget, less we forget.

It should never be forgotten that hundreds of thousands have valued the principles upon which this nation was founded enough to give their lives that these principles might be preserved.

It should never be forgotten that as a nation we are still in our adolescence and as our maturation continues we seem to be more constantly conscience of our need to care for and cherish every inch of our inheritance.

Although we should never forget that war is evil and leaves nations with fields filled with markers memorializing death and destruction, we likewise should never forget that the preservation of peace and the warding off of greed and domination by excess power, many times demands a price to be paid.

We must never forget that those of other nations with whom we all share common ancestries, have also had to set apart large tracts of land where their patriotic citizens who have given their lives for their lands are honored.

Hopefully, in all of our remembering, we will never cease in our desire to eliminate the further necessity to expand the preservation of soil for the internment of brave loved ones.
Perhaps, through the increased awareness of our universal kinship, prejudice, greed and hate and all the other justifications for war can be done away with and our efforts can be put into a universal righteous dominion over this wonderful world on which we live.

May our beautiful planet – be a continuing reminder of the universality of the human family – less we forget – less we forget!!