Something Greater

Who are the people I admire most?

The ones who have dedicated their lives to something greater than themselves.

Like Kevin Richardson who fearlessly befriends lions. He has done much to help these creatures and enrich our knowledge of them.

Boyon Slat, who gave up his university education to rid our oceans and rivers of plastic.

Or the woman who removes hooks from sharks, Cristina Zenato.

There are so many others, people who rescue sea turtles, and all the private citizens who chance upon an animal in distress and help. Numerous You Tube videos on this. A new one every day.

But something is even more remarkable.

Those lions remember Kevin Richardson and are bonded to him.

Cristina’s sharks tell others that she can help them and they come to her.

A wounded bald eagle that was treated at a bird facility two years ago, returns to that facility for help when poisoned with lead.

A rescued pelican visits his rescuers daily.

Animals know our role on this earth better than we do.

And that is something greater than we can currently understand.

A Place For You

There is always a place for you to do good and contribute to the world.

It does not matter your personality. God always has a place for you. In that place you will do good.

You don’t have to be perfect or even particularly nice. Steve Jobs ushered in the personal computer era and was a nasty individual, but so did Bill Gates, and he is a philanthropist. So being nasty is not a prerequisite to genius.

People who can withstand pain and fear can be Navy Seals, Special Forces, firefighters, ambulance drivers. Smart people can solve big problems; Boyan Slat takes on the ocean clean up. Non-traditionalists take care of tradition; Christopher Skaife tends the ravens at the Tower of London. It is all good and I find it wonderful there is a place of value for all kinds of people.

What I find amazing is that even if you are an SOB, God can still use you to do good and contribute value to the world. But all the bad you do? Unfortunately, not always good results from your walk on the planet. A lot of human damage, pain and suffering comes from bastards, even genius bastards.

Personally, I refuse to worship miserable sots who did good. If they hurt humans or other life on this planet, the final judgement is a thumbs down. Others have created things and done great things while not destroying lives in the process, so it is not a given that you need to be unpleasant.

Even if you are a driven, type A person, you don’t have to drive other people to their deaths in pursuit of your dream. Especially if that dream is a selfish, grandiose pursuit of personal power and fame, solves none of our problems and contributes more. Think massive production of cars, telephones, spacecraft and walls. There I go again!