Reverence for Life

No, the title of this particular column isn’t some type of newfangled “new age” teaching. Quite the contrary, displaying a reverence for life is simply a revival of “old school” learning - about as old school as you can get. Back in prehistory as far as you care to go; at a time when we humans universally viewed ourselves as being so wondrously interconnected with all other living things.

Whenever I take children on nature hikes (at last estimate, I’ve taken close to ten thousand little cherubs over my career), I teach them to never unnecessarily kill or harm any living thing. I’ve had several ex-students remark to me later about how life-changing a concept this was for them. I even had one student write her doctoral thesis with an emphasis on this “reverence for life” way of living. Indeed, such a phrase was made famous by the great Christian theologian/medical doctor/philosopher, Albert Schweitzer, upon realizing in a moment of epiphany the miraculous interconnectedness of all living things.

We can each have similar moments of epiphany ourselves. My first that I clearly recall came at age nine when I snuck Dad’s 22 rifle off into the woods to hunt groundhogs. I found one in a tree (yes, they are good climbers). I shot it. It didn’t die. I shot it again. It fell to the ground, quivering. I quivered, too, and lost my aim, barely winging it each time I shot it thereafter, missing vital organs. It took nine shots before my fellow creature ceased to quiver ever again.

I was mortified. I swore I’d never needlessly kill or harm any fellow living creature by intention ever again. So far as I know, I’ve kept that promise.