Memorial Day brings a time to reflect. Originally intended to honor those who died in wars fought for our country, for many of us the day has expanded to include honoring all living things that have died in the service of our United States of America. Please join me this Memorial Day wherever you are at 3PM for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to our nation.
This year, as has been the case for the past few years, I’ve chosen to reflect also on the pending loss of the monarch butterfly. I have a difficult time accepting the loss of this memorial creature, especially since much of its loss has to with humankind’s “care-less-ness.” Borrowing a quote from the Wild Ones Position Statement on Nativars, “As John Muir so eloquently put it in 1911, ‘When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.’ ”
The loss of one American soldier is hitched to everything else in the Universe, just as the loss of the monarch butterfly will be hitched to everything. In an effort to do our part to keep the monarch from becoming just a memory, please join me this Memorial Day wherever you are at 3PM for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to our nation and include a thought for the continued existence of the monarch butterfly.
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