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The Cruelest Animal


It is quite difficult to adjust the nature around you for your benefit without disrupting the nature outside of you.

We have this neighbor who retired young at about in his early 50s, He's now maybe age 70. He seems younger. He doesn't like deer in his yard. What he does is chase the deer out of his yard and then the deer run into my other neighbor's wooded area of their yard. I do not think that neighbor knows this. However, that's not the real problem.
The real problem is the deer get so alarmed that they run through the yards and into the street, which although it can be low-key in traffic. Still it is a road and the way the deer are chased by this neighbor it could have a catastrophic effect on not just the deer, too on a driver of a car that may come in contact with the deer scared and running.
Today, as I saw him scream and chase the deer, I went outside and said, "Hey. It's okay. Let them come into my yard." He answered back, "They're eating my shrubs." I replied, "I've created my yard for them to be able to be here. It's really okay." He said, "Oh."
What we do as the most cruel animal on earth even with all the brain matter we may have. We do not consider the ramifications of how we treat the nature we've invaded. We act as though it's ours for the taking and that there will be no consequences that may effect us or anyone else. 
It is not usually that humans just don't care. It is the lack of daily reflection in our lives that we abstain from.
Since I've gone back to working in my therapy field this year, after over a four year Sabbatical, I recognized many people even with the highest levels of education and money have not changed when it comes to self-responsibility. I wondered the other day, this: Was it that we may be so distracted? Or was it that our over-processed food consumption had damaged our thinking? Could it be, that we have lost touch with being quiet outside daily with movement of walking, running or hiking alone without the chatter of phones, music and others we demand to have with us?
This has nothing to do with religion. This has to do with our soul relation to nature that we have bastardized for our convenience.
As I worked on a person recently listening to why they felt that only one thing was their problem. Which countless times since I could remember, whether in session with a client or at a family function or community function that was and is what I'd always heard. Blaming something external that they say they can't control. There had been no deep reflection upon that which was implied.
My husband and I used to have discussions about this before him becoming terminally ill. Now, I ride with those thoughts mostly solo. I listen and realize my response would completely be berated, be dismissed, be hated. Thusly, I would lose clients, the few friends I have locally, and much more.  So instead, I keep my distance from most people that I don't have to do business with. Because no one wants the truth. My mother told me that over 50 years ago.
The truth is, humans need to be outside daily,  walking, hiking, running, raking, shoveling. Any one of those activities or combinations of every day for an hour outside with no phones, music, chatter, or person with us. This is so we can have a true internal dialog with our connection to who we are and our interconnected world in nature.
Without daily movement outside in our natural world, we are nothing. Without that, the quality of life decreases, hope decreases, and gratitude decreases. We take in the things we think we want, and consume recklessness and destroy the very things we need and love.----Jody-Lynn Reicher 

Comments

  1. Your writing deeply resonates, Jody-Lynn. It reminds me of the way a high-speed camera works—capturing thousands of frames per second, revealing intricate moments that the human eye misses in real time. In a way, our lives could benefit from that same lens—slowing down to notice the ripple effects of our actions, the subtle shifts in nature, and the emotional echoes we send out into the world.

    You can browse more about: https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/high-speed-camera-market-1840

    Your story of the neighbor chasing the deer highlights a broader truth: we act too quickly, too loudly, and too selfishly, often without awareness of what those "frames" of behavior might look like played back. Just like high-speed footage shows the beauty or brutality of a moment magnified, our interactions with nature and each other deserve that kind of attention.

    Thank you for sharing your solitude, your wisdom, and your truth. Perhaps if more people were willing to "record" their inner dialogue with clarity and without filters, we’d all tread a bit lighter, listen more deeply, and coexist more gently—with both ourselves and the natural world.

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