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If it’s broken, fix it; if it’s injured, mend it
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| Published by Tampa Bay Newspapers |
| Jan. 4, 2007 |
Thoughts offered a decade ago by Robert Mulluk, an Inupiat Eskimo from Northwest
Alaska:
“This is what we have to do. We have to look beyond the horizon because when
you look into the horizon, you think that is the end – but it is not. You walk
to that horizon again and there is another horizon. You can go all the way around
the world in this manner. If we can look at it in that way, we will be better off.
Otherwise, we will get too caught up in one simple thing, or one matter, or one
problem. We have got to look at it from all angles.”
It is ultimately the intention of most human beings to do the right thing. Each
new year we set out goals, good intentions and expectations for ourselves.
Somewhere in between chauffeuring the soccer team, the oil change, the pizza party,
aerobics classes, the roof repair, the teleconference, the music recital, the
e-mails, the flat tire, the morning jog, the afternoon coffee, the traffic jam, the
next episode of Lost; those well meant goals become buried within another
year’s harried schedule. “I can’t save the world alone.”
“There’s too much grief. What difference can one person make,
anyway?” “I don’t have the time.” “It’s just too
big!”
I’m just a home-grown girl from a cornfield scored valley at the base of the
Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee. Out of
necessity, we were do-it-yourselfers. We never knew any different. If it was
broken, fix it. If it was injured, mend it. But the world beyond our land was vast
and intimidating. What difference could one country girl make? “We have to
look beyond the horizon …”
In 1979, my daughter Jennifer was killed by a drunk driver. After a grieving
period, I became overwhelmed with daunting questions: How could this happen? Why
wasn’t she protected? Who let this guy out: again and again and again …
and why? Then came the bone chilling reality – safeguards were not in place to
prevent this from happening plus the general public was genuinely unaware of the
issue at hand.
If it’s broken, fix it. If it’s injured, mend it. Where to begin was the
first step. After much research, interviews with agencies, lawmakers, politicians,
police, victims and victims’ families, I founded an organization. To my
surprise within months this organization grew by leaps and bounds to thousands of
members. I realized so many others had been touched in the same way I had, but with
one single difference … they had not learned.
If it’s broken, fix it. If it’s injured, mend it.
The point is not this particular tragedy or any other, but the real possibilities
at hand for solutions and remedies. If one harmful act can change history forever,
can’t the opposite also be true? It only takes one person to make a change,
for good or bad. One action joining with thousands can become a persuasive force.
Believe in yourself. You can be that one person who makes a difference; your one
vote, your one letter, your one signature, your one voice. Some actions to consider
in 2007:
• More than 90,000 horses were sent to U.S. slaughter plants in 2005, and
another 20,000 were shipped to Canada and Mexico: Support the American Horse
Slaughter Prevention Act. National Horse Protection Coalition: www.horse-protection.org/
• Saving the Endangered Species Act: “It is natural for some species to
become extinct. But today, the current rate of species extinctions is 100 to 1,000
times greater than normal!” www.nwf.org/endangered/
• “We are faced with a second ‘Inconvenient Truth’: wild
tigers are slipping away from us,” Dinerstein said. “Tigers now survive
in a mere 7 percent of their historic range and use 40 percent less area than was
estimated in 1997. This is shocking news.” Eric Dinerstein speaks at the
National Zoo on July 20, 2006 © Jill Hatzai WWF: www.worldwildlife.org/news/displayPR.cfm?prID=299
• Save Sharks, Whales, and Other Marine Life Action deadline: Jan. 5, 2007,
U.S. activists: Call for strong protection for three marine sanctuaries that are
home to sharks, whales, sea lions, dolphins, sea turtles, octopus and many more
marine creatures. takeaction.worldwildlife.org/action/index.asp?ms=wwf_header
• “Bear No. 14 was a 120-pound male, 2 years old and just weaned from
his mother’s protection when he tried to cross State Road 40 in the Ocala
National Forest. He didn’t make it.” TBO News, Published: Dec 23, 2006,
by Neil Johnson, The Tampa Tribune: www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGB49AOK1WE.html
• Since 1972, 88 panthers have been killed by collisions with vehicles.
Wildlife crossings and right of way fencing have been installed along more than 40
miles of roadways that cross public lands. No panthers have been killed where these
structures are in place. www.floridaconservation.org/panther/
If it’s broken, fix it. If it’s injured, mend it ...
“We have to look beyond the horizon.” Sending you a New Year filled with
hopeful solutions, Back to Nature.
Karen can be reached at back_2nature@hotmail.com.
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