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<td width="343" valign="bottom"><p class="date"><a href="default.html">4/23/04 • Vol.
128, No. 35</a></p></td>
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<td align="left" valign="top"><p><a href="motherearth.jsp">All hail
Mother Earth on her special day</a></p>
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<h1><font size="5">All hail Mother Earth on her special day</font></h1>
<p class="byline"> </p>
<p class="byline">Son of Thunder</p>
<p class="byline">By John Brannon</p>
<p class="storyText">On this Earth Day plus one, let us take the time to
praise the giver of life, the faithful resource, the ever-present god
of this world, our mother Earth. For without our mother, we would be
left as newborn babes to seek out our own survival. Without our mother,
we would surely fall along the shores of the stormy sea that is survival
of the fittest. Without our mother, we would be nothing.</p>
<p class="storyText"> Let us not forget the error of our forefathers who
prayed to some faraway god. Let us not squabble about right and wrong,
appealing to a god that
we cannot see. Instead, let us pray to the god who is everywhere—in
the wind as it blows, in the grass as it grows, in the vegetation upon
which we feed, in birds of the air that sing from the trees, in the lion
as it roars, in my grandpa as he snores, in the water that gives us life
and in the fruit when it is ripe. </p>
<p class="storyText"> Let us cease to support the reckless actions of our
government that threaten our world. Let us cease to pollute our air with
the toxins of industry.
Let us cease to maim and kill animals for our good pleasure and appetite.
Let us cease to cut down our mother’s forests. Let us cease to
seek fossil fuels from the refuge of the Porcupine Caribou. Let us cease
to threaten our earth with nuclear technology. Let us cease to drive
in SUV’s and instead make our way around in hybrid cars, on bicycles,
or by electric golf cart. Let us cease to use pesticides that kill helpless
insects, damage our ozone and pollute the air we breathe.</p>
<p class="storyText"> Let us put an end to the need for landfills. Let
us recycle all that we use, no matter how small the impact may seem.
Let us seek friendship
with animals, our brothers and sisters of this world. Let us drink the
milk of this world that flows from our mother’s bosom in thankfulness
for all she has done. Let us plant a tree in our yards and praise the
fruits that it brings forth.</p>
<p class="storyText"> Let us return to subsistence living and allow the
earth to replenish itself. Let us no longer support the logging industry
and return to living
amongst the animals, our co-heirs of this world. Let us release our
dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters and birds, remembering that we do not own
the
animal any more than the animal owns us. </p>
<p class="storyText"> Let us all be in harmony with one another—man with man, man with
animal, animal with nature and man with nature. Let us feel what the
animal feels when we kill it for food. Let us feel what the flower feels
when we cut it down. Let us hear the cries of anguish of our mother when
we pollute our oceans, rivers, lakes and streams.</p>
<p class="storyText"> Let us do all of these and more—just as soon as I finish laughing.</p>
<p class="storyText"> —
This columnist can be reached at collegian@csufresno.edu</p></td>
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