I joined RB 5 weeks today, in that time I have been with RB and surrounded by such wonderful artists and seeing all their great works of art, I have slowly become more aware of the rareity of our wild beasts, there are so many on the endangered list and it scares me to think that our grandchildren may be the last to see these great and wonderous creatures. Today on looking at the recent page I came across a picture by artist Richardredhawk called Memories of yesteryear, and this famous speech came into my mind,

Where are the Buffalo. Gone. Written by Chief Seattle to President Franklin Pierce, 1855.

The great chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land, How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land, the idea is strange to us, yet we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them from us, every part of this earth is sacred to my people.

We know the white man does not understand our ways, One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother but his enemy and when he has conquered it he moves on. He leaves his father’s graves and his children’s birthright is forgotton.

There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities. No place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insect wings, but perhaps because I am a savage and do not understand – the clatter only seems to insult the ears, and what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoowill or the arguments of the frog around the pond at night.

The whites too shall pass – perhaps sooner than other tribes, continue to contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. When the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hill blotted by talking wires.

Where is the eagle. Gone. Where is the buffalo. Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift and the hunt, the end of living and the beginning of survival.
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I hope you hear these lovely words, and I think now is the time to act and try and do something about the saving of this planet of ours, we are all residents of this great earth and we have the brains to do something about, lets try and manage with what we got and not what we want, because this earth has to last, otherwise what is the point. Because this great man was right, we is only just surviving, but our creatures are not, is it us next I wonder and pray that it is not