Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants gives the reader a greater appreciation for God’s Creation. The introduction gives a good lesson in this appreciation. It tells the story of Tom killing and animal with his hands for the first time. Tom spent weeks tracking and getting to know the deer he was to kill, waiting for the ideal moment. The first strike he took on the deer failed to kill it so he had to choke it to death. As the deer slowly died he at first saw the utter terror it felt in its eyes, but this gave way to a look of knowing that it was to become Tom’s lifeblood. When he finally succeeded in taking the deer’s he felt a great wave of guilt and regret as he looked into the eyes of what he had grown to know as not just a beast, but a close friend and even family. When he returned to his teacher in tears, Stalking Wolf simply told him that when he could feel the same remorse for every blade of grass he destroyed, then he would truly understand the oneness of all things.
This seems to me a great lesson in life. How often do we eat a steak without giving a single thought to the life of the animal that was sacrificed for the meal? Even further, when, if ever, have we felt remorse for the loss of life of a blade of grass? I see in these instances a great potential for appreciation of life that is lost in modern life. Fewer and fewer things are sacred, as they become mere means to our ends.
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