Rachel Carson: Until We Have the Courage To Recognize Cruelty For What It Is

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the 

wonders and realities of the universe about us, 

the less taste we shall have for destruction.

 

In nature nothing exists alone.

 

But man is a part of nature, and his war against

nature is inevitably a war against himself.

 

One way to open your eyes is to ask yourself,

"What if I had never seen this before?

What is I knew I would never see it again?"

 

It is a wholeness and necessary thing for us

to turn to the Earth and in contemplation of her

beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility.

 

It is not half so important to know

as to feel.

 

The question is whether any civilization can wage

relentless war on life without destroying itself,

and without losing the right to be called civilized. 

By acquiescing in an act that causes such

suffering to a living creature, 

who among us is not diminished? 

 

Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is -- whether its victim is human or animal -- we cannot expect things to be much better in this world. We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic delight in killing, we set back the progress of humanity.

We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less traveled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the Earth.

 

— Rachel Carson