Planet Earth

My younger brother and I watched some 'Planet Earth' today. I love Planet Earth. Everything is just so amazing and so beautiful: I become an extremely vocal watcher. I suggest you watch it and I suggest you do it on the biggest, high definition screen that you can. The full Planet Earth collection has five discs, each containing different habitat themes. We watched Ocean Deep today- I was told that Ocean Deep is a must see in the collection. (Planet Earth also makes me miss some special college friends. I got the dvds for my father after watching and loving them in my dorm.)

Watching shows like Planet Earth or LIFE makes me wonder how humans ever got away with saying that we are the most capable of creatures, we rule, and every other creature is here to serve us. "And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." How can this be justified, truly, as more than just self-centered, narcissism? Yes we have the ‘intelligence’ and the ‘language’ to do more than a single other species can do. I understand our high level of functioning. Yes we can fly high and go fast

and seem strong and swim deep but not like animals can.

Have you watched the majesty of a horse, galloping with long, powerful legs (don’t even get me started)? Have you pet a cat and

seen the designs of each individual hair and their perfect gestalt? Have you seen a hawk fly with a twitch of its wing?

We cannot communicate like a school of fish. We cannot smell or taste or see or sense or do any such thing better than every other animal. And the only way we allow ourselves to think that we can, is by being our own judge. How Ethnocentric.

There is a natural universe that we cannot experience. But we can see it and we can be open minded. There are unbeknownst abilities and subjective experiences in this world that we will never understand. But just because we cannot understand them does not mean we should devalue them and overvalue ourselves.