Jake Frasier - Making Nature Sacred 1

On page 52, Gatta brings up the Quaker John Woolman, who published his Journal in 1774. In the journal he talks about an incident when he was a child where he saw a defensive robin mother. He discusses how he threw a rock at it and killed her. He then goes on to say that "at first was please with the exploit, but after a few minutes was seized with horror." This is interesting to me because animals are just as important as everything else in nature. While killing for survival is acceptable, in my opinion killing without a reason, as Woolman did, is not. Woolman says that he stared at the young bird dead, and then at the young that she was caring for. He then says that he climbed the tree and killed them too, "supposing that better than to leave them to pine away and die miserably." He then quotes Prov. 12:10 as a means of explanation. He is saying that he is wicked because of his murder of the mother, but then by mercifully killing the young birds it was cruel. Gatta then goes on to say that Woolman believes malice towards any innocent creature is the greatest violation of nature and God. I feel that this is all humans do in the modern era. We hack and slash nature to make way for malls or restaurants without thinking of the effects on nature.