On Twitter recently I read that the West African Black Rhino* was declared extinct due to poaching.

And I experienced oh-my-god-did-I-read-that-correctly whiplash.

Seriously. Did I read that correctly?

Why that particular piece of bad news should be the one to push me over my inner edge, I don't know.

It's not like we are lacking in 'bad news' as far as the environment is concerned: dead bees, animal extinctions, ice caps melting, etc. etc. etc. etc.

(Alas, there is so much etcetera...)

Turn that TV off! I don't want to hear about the dying oceans!

Except, now, wait a minute...maybe I do...

I used to have a lot of reasons to justify my avoidance: it's too sad, it's too scary, the problems are too big, I can't do enough, I'm too shy, I don't even know what to do, and it's futile, anyway, so why bother?

But it seems the equation has shifted.

My personal hang ups < the need for active attention

Or to steal from Casablanca, for which you will need your best Humphrey Bogart voice:

My personal hang ups don't equal a hill of beans in this crazy world.

It's not that all of a sudden I'm less scared and more confident.  I haven't taken any kind of Green Tonic that's given me a completely different personality.

I have just decided to let my cynicism or shyness or sadness or fear be as it is...and take action anyways.

So...I started looking outwards, looking for things I could do beyond the basics. Looking for information instead of hiding from it.

This blog is to document this 'looking', this learning, but I aim to do so with a light touch...

And I've done step one: ...going from eyes closed tight...to letting them open.

Now for step two...stay tuned and see my next blog post!

*the West African Black Rhino going extinct isn't exactly new news...they were declared extinct in 2011...apparently, the recent interest came about due to a replay of an old news report. So while I was mourning its loss, it was already long gone...Check this article out to learn more about that
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