blog-on-decline of service

Topsy Turvey Morals and Manners I wrote a blog a while back about Posers vs Do’ers: People saying they’re helping animals or other causes, with slick websites and PR machines, but who ultimately do very little to make the world a better place. The epidemic of selfishness and rudeness recently stabbed at my heart, and it got me to thinking it was time for another blog, about how we treat each other and our world.
My mother died October 28, 2006. Earlier in the month, I drove to see her in her nursing home in Florida (my third such solo drive in six months) and was driving home to GH, hoping to push myself to drive the entire 12 hours in one session, although I was exhausted in every possible way. Stopping at a gas station off I-75 in Florida, the receipt didn’t print out at the pump as expected, so I ran into the building to find a woman on a pink cell phone, clearly on a personal phone call. When I interrupted and insisted on her giving my receipt, she threw it at me, much to my amazement. I told her I wouldn’t be back and she screamed back “Good (expletive), I’m the owner and don’t want your kind here, so get out and never come back!”
My mother taught me manners and to be honest and fair and to stand up and fight for my beliefs. Stunned at my treatment at what I will call the H&H Hag Store, I wrote the Better Business Bureau, the corporate offices of the gas company and the Chamber of Commerce in the town where the hateful woman business owner was. All I wanted was an acknowledgement that you don’t treat people like this. The gas company was the first to reply, saying they can’t do anything about the individual gas stations selling their product. The BBB said they’d investigate. My first contact with a representative of the town was an email telling me the station was technically outside their city limits and for me to “get a life.” Finally, after I sent another email suggesting I write about my experience on our website (which reaches up to 40,000 people each month!) and naming names, three other town representatives contacted me apologizing and being mortified at my experiences. The entire episode left me depressed and saddened, at a time my emotional plate was already full to overflowing.
We recently had a visitor who could not understand the goal of GH: To be empty, which would mean all captive gorillas were in good social settings in zoos, helping to educate the public about their plight in the wild (and also, this would allow us to send more funds to help their conservation in the wild); and ultimately, years from now, to preserve the 324 acres for native wildlife. He wasn’t the first person to be unable to understand why we’d do something so selfless, since clearly, there had to be something in it for us. Yet if we used our money to build a bazillion dollar log cabin with a runway for our private jet, that is somehow easier for people to understand. With the Enrons, preacher scandals and lies and deceptions from our country’s highest office, etc., it’s not hard to understand why people would suspect us of ulterior motives. There is something in it for us, however – a satisfaction from the deepest level of our hearts and souls that we’re doing something to make the world a better place, even if it’s only one gorilla at a time. It's also very cathartic, especially for me personally, as wounds from my past slowly heal as I see Joe and Oliver and the other people and animals we're privileged to help thrive too.
I used to think I was pretty hip and kept in touch with popular culture, even though I don’t have children to keep me current. I first realized I had lost touch when former President Clinton insisted he didn’t have sex with Monica Lewinsky, since oral sex, apparently, isn’t considered sex in this day and age. Or when a teenager explained cheating on a test wasn’t wrong, if they got a better grade and therefore ultimately a better job … or stealing wasn’t a bad thing, if you didn’t get caught and it was from a big store that could afford it. The teenager explained the goal of life was to squeeze everything dry and get as much as you can for yourself, since it you didn’t do it, someone else would do it to you. Sue your own father, if it means you'll get more money from it. Lawyers aren't interested in truth or justice, just winning at any and all costs, and lying under oath, if it gets you a win in your case, seems to be ok. If I think about all of this too long, it feels like I’m Alice In SelfishLand and I’ve fallen down the topsy-turvey tunnel of thinking that makes no sense to me at all.
In December we’ll celebrate our 10th anniversary of living in our cabin here in North Georgia. I have lived in more places than I can easily count, but since moving to these mountains, I feel like I’m finally home and in my own paradise. But “progress” is coming to Fannin County and now each time I go out I’m seeing mountains being shaved down into flattened strips for malls of Walmarts, fast food joints and car dealerships. People are making a lot of money and so they’re happy, but when a mother black bear and her cub showed up on our property for the first time this summer, instead of being happy to see nature up close, the first thing we realized was all the construction and development just beyond our own 324 acres had more than likely forced the bears out of their homes, looking for food, which made me sad and concerned for their future.
I don’t believe humans are here to rule the earth, but to share it and protect it for future generations. But with the selfishness, rudeness and greed I see so many places around me, I wonder if my mother isn’t better off now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Topsy Turvey Morals and Manners