THE ETHIC OF LIFE

I was driving to my dermatologist's office recently. Livestock grazed in amber fields alongside the scenic, mountain-bracketed road. Suddenly I saw a ground squirrel ahead. I swerved to the right in order to avoid hitting the critter, but the squirrel inexplicably ran back the way it had come, right into the path of my vehicle. Thunck! I knew I had killed the animal, and my heart sank. When I looked in my rearview mirror I saw the car behind me veer to the left. The squirrel lay motionless on the pavement.

The emotional turmoil that I felt was soon replaced by an attempt to understand the deeper significance of this event. An animal had died violently on a lonely country road. Why did its death matter to me? Who or what was responsible? Did the squirrel's death have a deeper meaning? Was its death inevitable? When my car struck the squirrel I instinctively felt remorse, for we had shared a common bond - the bond of life. When a person hurts another life, whether intentionally or by accident, I believe that he feels the pain of that creature deep in his soul. But not all people acknowledge this pain. Some try to deny or ignore it. Worse yet, other people kill animals for sport or gain. I'll have more to say about this later in my essay.

Who or what was responsible for this creature's demise and what does it matter? The short answer to this question is; I was responsible for its death, and it matters a great deal. The squirrel was blameless in its death. This conclusion may surprise some readers, but I think that the rodent had a perfectly natural right to be on that road. The road was part of its home where it and many other wild creatures had ranged freely for millennia. Nor is it reasonable to assume that wildlife has the mental capacity to avoid vehicles. Creatures have had little time to genetically adapt to modern man's machines and infrastructure. They have no idea of the danger that faces them on our highways, and few animals can survive a collision with a moving vehicle. Too, an animal may be young, distracted, pregnant, injured, confused or panicked. It is, therefore, incumbent upon man to design his environment and conduct his affairs in such a way as to minimize the hazard to wildlife. I choose to drive my car knowing full well that it has the power to kill a dog, bird, deer, squirrel or human being. I am the responsible agent because I have the brain that contains the knowledge to operate a powerful automobile. Animals rely on us to drive safely and avoid hitting them. We are their best defense against our machines.

Of what significance is the death of this squirrel, and does it highlight a far deeper and larger challenge for modern civilization? When Henry Ford began the mass production of his Model T automobile a century ago, he could not have imagined the impact that it would have on life. Today automobile collisions claim 1.2 million lives every year throughout the world, the ninth leading cause of death. In this country 42,000 people die each year in auto accidents and 2,900,000 are injured. 5,000 pedestrians are killed every year by cars, as are countless animals, both wild and domestic. Your chance of being injured in an automobile accident sometime in your lifetime is 50%. The annual costs of vehicular accidents in the U.S. total $230 billion dollars. Carbon emissions produced by the infernal internal combustion engine that power automobiles have created noxious, life threatening, and global climate-altering gases. Autos have profoundly impacted our nation's landscape, environment, culture and economy. The death of one squirrel on a country road may seem insignificant, but it symbolizes the immensely destructive capacity of our technology-driven culture.

But the automobile is far from the only cause for concern. Throughout the modern era inventors have tried to improve the quality of our lives by harnessing the power of machines and nature. Although they are succeeding, and a growing percentage of mankind is now living better than kings once did, the cost is nearing catastrophic proportions. Modern technological innovation and overpopulation are destroying the Earth. Forests, jungles, oceans, and non-human flora and fauna are facing grave risks from the by-products of civilization's technology and activity. The largest living things on this planet, coral reefs are dying at an astonishing rate. Nearly one-third have already perished and other life in the oceans is also disappearing. Tropical rain forests are burning furiously, and carbon-based gases are poisoning our very atmosphere.

Individually and collectively humankind is behaving in a very uncivilized way. Will we be the only creatures left on this planet after we have extinguished all other life? Will the creature with the most advanced brain be smart enough to survive all other animals, and dumb enough to destroy himself also? Have our numbers grown so exponentially out of control that mankind is a cancer on the Earth?

There are those who deny the emergency which our planet faces. Others murder innocent animals for sport or profit. To them I say; put yourself in the place of the endangered polar bear, California Condor, mountain gorilla, or blue whale; feel what they feel as they search vainly for food, habitat, or fresh water. Understand their grief and terror when an orphan tiger pup searches for its mother, a victim of poachers, or an orca calf struggles in a fish net, slowly suffocating to death. Are you able to empathize with these creatures? Are you able to see the profound impact that your attitude and conduct are having on their welfare? Albert Schweitzer said, "A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives." All life is one. Each life has value. The death of one creature, or the extinction of one species, diminishes all life. One Earth, One Life.

To believe that human beings are the noblest and most valuable form of life on this planet is a gross misinterpretation of reality and extremely arrogant. Such a mindset dooms all life and us. Yet we behave like human beings are the only creatures that matter when we drive our cars, power our gadgets, wage incessant war, procreate mindlessly, and harvest the Earth's resources in a myopic, thoughtless way. Our large, complex brains give us the power to alter and exploit the environment like no other creature. They do not, however, give us the right to endanger or destroy life. We are the stewards of life, not its masters.

The new paradigm of civilization must be the protection and enhancement of life on this planet. Economic, political, and social considerations must now serve The Ethic of Life. What do I mean by The Ethic of Life? The Ethic of Life values life above all else and seeks every opportunity to defend and promote the right of every living thing on this planet to live free and to live out its natural life span. Important life values are compassion, empathy and reason. Life will only have a chance to survive if life-oriented values are given first priority from now on. If, however, we continue to allow such factors as greed, political ambition, war, unbounded population growth, and errant technology to dominate our culture, life will be doomed. The hour is late and the odds against life are deteriorating. But we must try. Life is worth the struggle. The squirrel's death was not inevitable. If an Ethic of Life had been in place instead of a human-centric Culture of Death, this animal would be alive today. So would many human beings and other animals.

The Culture of Death slaughtered 170,000,000 million people in all the wars and political, racial, and religious persecutions of the twentieth century. Adding to this carnage, abortion savagely murdered 836,000,000 innocent and defenseless human beings throughout the world during the last hundred years. This man-on-man violence continues unabated in the twenty-first century. Environmental degradation, caused by mankind's pollution, destruction of habitat, invasive species, and global climate change, will extinguish one-half of all species of life within the next one-hundred years if current trends continue. Many higher forms of life that we cherish will be lost forever. Life is under relentless and severe assault everywhere.

As individuals we have serious choices to make every day in order to promote The Ethic of Life and defeat The Culture of Death. We can choose to drive vehicles that protect the environment, and operate those vehicles using defensive driving techniques. We can recycle, reuse, and conserve products and resources which we consume. We can choose a healthy lifestyle. We can exercise sexual restraint, reproduce fewer offspring, and behave responsibly toward the children that we do create. We can spay and neuter our pets. We can donate blood. We can educate ourselves about life issues and advocate policies that are in harmony with the Earth and its creatures. We can join groups which support life-friendly and earth-protecting agendas. We can oppose war and support reconciliation and understanding among people. We can encourage others to make these choices too. Finally, we can select political leadership which shares our life-affirming beliefs, and appreciate the fact that The Ethic of Life transcends political ideology, economic theory, and religious dogma.

Time is of the essence. As a society we can encourage our leaders to oppose war, mitigate overpopulation, and support legislation that advances life-friendly scientific and technical innovation and public policies. Whether located in this country or overseas, we can also advocate that manufacturers market goods which better conform to the needs of the planet. A healthy bottom line will increasingly depend on the role that conscience and ethics play in the development of life-friendly business models. Responsible and enlightened corporate governance will choose to balance short-term economic considerations with policies which consider long-term consequences to the planet's health, especially when citizens demand it. And citizens will demand it when they understand the direct link between a healthy environment and the health of their families and future generations. These fundamental choices will require reason, cooperation and commitment on the part of individuals and the global community. The task of saving the life of our planet is not impossible, but current ominous trends must be reversed now. When enough people choose to make the right choices our world will be transformed for the better.

I said a prayer for the squirrel that I killed. I prayed for its soul, and for mine. I asked the squirrel to forgive me, and I vowed to try and do better in the future. As compensation for causing the squirrel's death, I am making a special effort to treat creatures with greater respect and love. I am also extending this same attitude to my fellow man. Each of us is mortal. We are all part of the same web of life and death. Perhaps what we learn in this life will help us to spiritually advance in the next. In the mean time each of us can live The Ethic of Life: Do no harm; be a beneficial influence to all. Permissum phasmatis quod lux lucis of vita fulsi in vos usquequaque. (Let the Spirit and the Light of Life Shine In You Always.)

August 10, 2008
Los Osos, California