Here is a copy of a column from Letters To The Editor from our local newspaper, Herald and News in Klamath Falls, Oregon. It was written by attorney Eve Oldenkamp.
Whatever my opinion is worth, it seems genius and a lovely way of expressing a wilderness view. I wonder if all Eve's law work is this wonderful. Here goes:
Syndicated columnist Bonnie Erbe's Dec. 5 tirade against hunting was emotional. Frustration vented at presidential pardons, it unjustly linked hunters with politicos who are unjustly forgiven. The Second Amendments import, its bulwark against potential tyranny, skipped. Her inane argument on hunting's ease squawls from the mouth of a nonparticipant.
Hunters and environmentalists immunize against the smallpox of urbanization. Illusory differences evaporate. Together they protect our wilderness. The proverbial political fence lowered. Most hunters desire to guard what they cherish - the wilderness. Not blood lust, but a respectful spiritual quest of self-reliance draws them to hunt. Campfire conversation provides respite from modern life's seemingly senseless hustle.
In the miles, days and hours of walking, hunting provides intimate communie with nature. Modern life's clatter evaporates. Pregnant silence seduces one to slow. To listen. Nature's melody, drama finally observed. Many, years without game, continue, for it is not pursuit, but quest, that draws.
Is Erbe vegetarian? If not, does she consume without respect for food's source? Either way, she misses a profoundly intimate engagement with nature and herself. Does commercial meat production avoid virulent attack due to safe distance? Doesn't it dishearten, offend her, as it does me? The animal and spiritual within strangely meld when taking another creature's life to sustain your own. Its felt. Deeply. Spirit demands a ceremony of gratitude for each creature whose life spirit lends to sustain one. A sense of humble gratitude then fills one at a full table. She misses this all.
Whatever the source of her angkst, its simplistic aura throws up illusory divides between people who share a conservation desire. Fortunately in the West, much of our land is public. We can avoid the smallpox, for the benefit of all. We must strive to keep it thus.
