There was a recent article saying that a 10 year old student at Northridge elementary school had seen a large cat behind the school, which snarled at him, and he reported it to his father who pushed this story to the Saanich news. I originally thought, child is exaggerating, father is overreacting, what has the world become. But in recent weeks, my baby was born, there has been a paradigm shift, and I have become a legitimate father. I would never put my children in harms way. I also may have become a half-assed environmentalist, asking myself, “what is more important?” and why?
Since then, There has been numerous cougar sightings in the area, including one very nearby, and the community that I live in has requested that we not leave our children unattended in the communal backyard, and to be on guard at all times as cougars can become quite aggressive at this time of year.
Possibly, part of being human is BEING - MAN, acting in my own interest before the interests of others, Securing the homefront. This is never anything that I have considered before fatherhood, which makes me think that this is a product of reproduction. But, my question is, is this a natural change of focus or is this a process of becoming older? Also, what really does matter more? The Cougar's instinct or my child's safety?
4 comments:
I doubt the cougar would hesitate to attack you, supposing it was also protecting its young. You're not a half=assed environmentalist because you are asking these questions. Killing a cougar while protecting your offspring is not a crime, it is life.
Unfortunately we as a society have taken more than our share, we have disrupted other habitats, driven by ego and greed. Yet this is history, we can try to change it now, but I believe the damage has somewhat already been done. Since we cannot go back in time to trace the blame we are left with an instinctual situation. With reproduction, all of our needs become lessened and the well being of our kids is all that matters, or at least thats the way it should be. Humans and Animals no longer live together, we do not give and take in the same system we once did, so some invade, it is shitty but we must protect, and thus we become farther away from nature. I guess it is just the situation we find ourselves in, we seem comfortable and secure, but nature will always be there to balance us out. Natual Disasters will always have the upper hand. So we can defend as much as we are able, or we can work really hard together to try and change the past.
I believe that we are pushing cougars and other predators into our human environments because as others have said, we continue to take and take, and what other option do they have when their home is gone? But of course, the survival of you and your family is paramount and I'm sure the insticts of parenthood are incredibly strong. The best thing you can probably do is to educate your child about the state of the natural world and what we've done to cause cougars to invade our (their) spaces. And in this way they can be aware and live their life in such a way to protect and preserve what is sacred, so hopefully we will not have these problems in the future
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