MAIL CALL: We should all respect the Earth

Opinion

Discussion

July 1, 2009

Anonymous The Athens Daily Review Wed Jul 01, 2009, 10:38 PM CDT

I am left shaking my head, as the vandalism at the East Texas Arboretum is beyond comprehension. It appears that a reckless mind with a can of spray paint wrecked havoc on an innocent place of tranquil beauty.

The word that comes to mind is respect, or in this case, the lack of respect. Of course there was a lack of respect for property and the rights of others, but more importantly there was unequivocal disregard for natural beauty. There is something sinister about spray painting a flower garden. I just cannot get my head around it.

But society, on a much larger scale will go into pristine woodlands and dig out a large basin for water to be sold and piped into a concrete jungle. We will also drill holes in any place of beauty where another pint of oil might be retrieved. Whether it’s water or oil, we find it very hard to think outside the hole in the ground.

What is the difference between spray paint and an oil spill? Recovery from spray paint cost thousands of dollars; recovery from an oil spill, billions. And trees submerged beneath a reservoir of water, no amount of money can resurrect that beauty. Believe it or not, a monetary debt is not the greatest debt we can leave our children and grandchildren.

As a society, we might look around at all the natural beauty that gives us pleasure, and just ask: do I really want to spray paint what God has provided?

Jerry S. Phillips

Athens

Text Only

Opinion

Animals are so like people, and can be used to teach us
Yesterday, I wrote on the editorial page of the Athens Daily Review about how people become contaminated mentally, and especially, emotionally.
I wrote about a murder I witnessed on a drive-in restaurant parking lot in Houston back in the 1970s.

May 25, 2012 1 Photo
We need to set our kid’s world straight – before they grow up
I once wrote a column for the Athens Daily Review, in which I stated that I am fascinated by people that carry out horrible acts.
I still hold that fascination. It is just so incredibly difficult to understand how someone can do something horrible to another, that ends the other’s life, or maybe even worse.

May 25, 2012 1 Photo
The newspaper career: You either love it, or you hate it
It occurred to me recently that on or around May 15, I will have been in the newspaper industry for 40 years. Who does that?
I have seen so many changes in this industry. The changes just keep on coming.

May 21, 2012 1 Photo
One spoken line about alcohol use led to GBC mayor victory
The residents of Gun Barrel City and their neighbors are now going to drink until 2 a.m. on weekends, if they so choose.
And they have so chosen with last Saturday's election, which extends drinking hours in some establishments in that community.

May 18, 2012 1 Photo
May 17, 2007: a day in Henderson County like no other
Sometimes, the most extraordinary things happen on the most ordinary days. That’s the way it was on May 17, 2007.
Most of Henderson County was coming to the end of the business day. The Athens Daily Review Friday edition was just about finished. The stories had been written, and the front page design was taking shape.

May 17, 2012 1 Photo
Mothers are the glue that holds it all together
When God was working on his blueprint of Eve, He created what I feel is the closest thing we have to superheroes here on Earth.
I bet many mothers wish they could have super powers. The love, strength, patience and self control they show — although many might not classify those traits as super powers — are nothing short of a gift from God.

May 14, 2012 1 Photo
It’s the day to celebrate what our mothers mean to us
I remember my mother's prayers, and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life. ~Abraham Lincoln

It's Mother's Day! A day to celebrate what our mothers mean to us. Mothers make many sacrifices for their children.

May 14, 2012 1 Photo
The old time satellite dish was so much fun, they ruined it
An era came to an end at my house this week. While getting some work done around the yard, we had our old C-band satellite dish removed.

May 11, 2012 1 Photo
Things aren’t like they were in the ‘50s with glass bottles
Seems like only yesterday we were in the early to mid 1950s, and I was walking barefoot and shirtless with my twin friends Ike and Mike to the Sinclair gas station on the edge of a southwestern Oklahoma village.

May 10, 2012 1 Photo
Scam artists have no scruples, protect yourself
Why people prey on the less fortunate is beyond me.
Recently, a local Avon Representative called me and said she had a customer who almost fell for a scam.

May 7, 2012 1 Photo
More Opinion Headlines

Opinion

Search Results

Discussion

MAIL CALL: We should all respect the Earth

Site Map

Contact Us