Nature's Survival

by J.P. Medved

  Chapter 9

  I was fed up with the lack of progress between my father and I so, out of pure desperation, I decided to look back to see who was the real cause of

  the litter atrocity and the disasters that followed.

  I thought of the couple we saw throw the wrapper on the ground. Maybe they were the cause of all of that junk on top of the mountain. But, honestly they did not even have that much food, and if it did happen to be them, wouldn't they just be a symptom of society as a whole?

  Could the society in which we live really have caused that litter to be on the summit? Could our lazy attitudes have finally caught up to us? I decided against this thought, too, because if that is truly the case, then we need to be put off into a different direction.

  And who other to do it than the government. The government is supposed to help the citizens, make sure they are safe and correct them when they are wrong. But, the government's responsibilities are far more than that. They are supposed to handle the people who commit the crimes, like throwing litter on a mountain. And if this is not a crime to them, well, then there is our problem right there.

  So, I decided to, on my own, try to contact government officials to try to get my point across that this cannot happen again. Ever. Maybe, if my father hears the government is doing something to help, we can move towards normalcy once more.

  I drafted an email that went like this:

  “Dear Mr. Senator,

  As you obviously know, one of the best things about Colorado is our mountains. From the 14'ers on downward, we have some awesome mountains in Colorado.

  What you may not know, however, is the scene my father and I witnessed on the summit of Mount of the Holy Cross. As we reached the summit we saw a slew of garbage awaiting us on the summit. A total lack of respect for one of the tallest mountains in Colorado. After this appalling act, my father has never been the same.

  We need your help. We need some sort of law to prevent this from ever happening again. Not only does Mount of the Holy Cross deserve better than that, but we, the people of Colorado, deserve our land to be treated with more respect.

  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

  A loyal resident of Colorado”

  I guess I expected more of the people who govern me and make my father pay taxes. You know, I thought they would care about me more than just another number in their population count, or a pawn in their efforts for reelection.

  Because all I got in the return email was this:

  “Loyal resident,

  While the senator does really appreciate the concerns you have in regard to the well being of the Colorado mountains, unfortunately he feels like we have more pressing issues at hand.

  Thanks again,

  Your senator”

  That email finally got me thinking that what my aunt had said earlier, when I had merely dismissed her, might have been true.

  ….

  So, that was a flop. But, in an effort to get some sort of investigation going, I decided to contact the Colorado state police.

  I called up the police station only to get the condescending response: “We are sorry, young man, but for such an insignificant matter, this would be a massive investigation. And unfortunately, we have significant issues to deal with now. Thanks for expressing your concern, though.”

  In both cases, the responses said that there were bigger issues than mine. Look, I am not naïve, but to this day, I still question why I was not even shown any sympathy. The only response I got was the generic, “We don't care but thanks asking”. Here I am, my father going crazy, but the government could not care less. I did not know what to anymore.

  ….

  The boiling point for my father and I happened one day after I came home from school.

  I came into the house, and sat on the couch to decompress for a few minutes. My father walked into the room and when he saw me sitting on the couch, he exploded.

  “You lazy piece of shit! Get your God damn ass for the couch and make something out of your life! You will go nowhere! Nowhere! You know what? Get out, get out of my fucking house! How dare you sit on the couch instead of doing something productive!”

  So you want to know what I did? I left. I decided I couldn't take it any more. Couldn't take the abuse. I packed up everything I could fit in my suitcases and just walked over to my aunt's house. She understood, she knew what my father had become. My aunt took me in, no questions asked.

  To this day I still think about whether or not it was the right decision to move out. Whether, maybe, my father and I could have smoothed things out. But, when my aunt gives me the love and care, as my mother once did so many years, I knew I made the right decisions.

  It is just a God damn shame it had to end up this way.

  ….

  As I lay in my aunt's guest bed, my bed now, I look out into the darkness. I contemplate everything that has happened in my life. All of the ups and all of the downs. And there sure were a lot of downs.

  I glance off into this dead night, and think about part of what my father had said to me when I saw him walk into the house with the chainsaw:

  “Look, David, in the fight that is man vs. nature, man is winning, and let me tell you something for the longest time I was on nature's side, trying to stop man from taking natural land... Nature is trying to survive, David, but if that scene on Holy Cross is any indication of what’s to come then, trust me, it won’t”

  I thought deeply about those words. Maybe nature really is fighting with man. Unfortunately for nature, it is just a fight that it cannot win. Man will expand and expand, pollute and pollute, until there is nothing left. Man will destroy nature until there is nothing left.

  Yes, there will always be city parks and open fields, but true nature will be gone before we know it.

  Nature is in survival mode, our very own government not even here to provide us an army.

  I go to sleep that night, a particularly dark night, scared of what's to come.

  Works Cited

  Approaching the summit. n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2012

  Holy Cross, North Ridge. 11 Sept. 2009. Web. 25 Nov. 2012

  “Holy Cross, Mount of the.” summitpost.org. SummitPost.org, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.

  “Mount of the Holy Cross (North Ridge).” Panorak Adventure Network. Panorak Adventure Network, LLC, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.

  “Route #1) Mt. of the Holy Cross – North Ridge.” 14ers.com. 14ers Inc., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2012.