As an animal lover, zoologist and nature photographer, I have been saddened by the destruction of many of the natural areas that I love in the name of  “progress”. This flavored my view of human nature while growing up and turned me into a bit of a misanthrope.

I recently became enthralled with rocks and minerals, a sort of  “geo-awakening”, and like many of my specimens, I’ve been metamorphosed. I originally viewed rocks and minerals only as photographic opportunities. Then, they became an avenue to vent my collector’s instinct and my house is filled with them. They now satisfy my long-standing desire to be surrounded by nature’s creations and are a lot easier to care for than fish and reptiles which previously served this purpose.

Then, unexpectedly, minerals became “Minerals!” and I began to see them as expressions of nature’s underlying order. My world view further evolved when, through my hunger for knowledge, I learned that not only were minerals beautiful, but almost all of them have been put to use by humans in some way in order to help build the civilization that we now enjoy. Understanding how diverse minerals are, how hard they are to find and extract from the ground, much less figure out how to use, has changed my thinking about humans.

I would go further in praise of humans. That we now consider the well-being of other species with which we share space and devote energy to other environmental issues is a further testimony to our wisdom. The fact that social tolerance and equality are light years ahead of just a few short decades ago is another positive aspect of humanity. Meanwhile, art, music and literature document the human condition with untold poignancy.

On this cold November day, the gas furnace warms my feet. What might as well be called my mineral-mobile sits in the driveway while I write on the 66+ mineral computer and stop to answer a call on the equally mineral-rich mobile phone and I find it hard to judge my species harshly. I basically live like a king of old, thanks to the Earth’s great bounty, and the inventive geniuses that have figured out how to make it work for us.

Admittedly, I haven’t listened to news in over 6 months and there is room for improvement. Polyannish it may be, but I have to say, hip hip hooray for humans!