At the Crossroads


Land snail

Sometimes there are crossroads of which a decision needs to be made.

If high on a mountain looking out over the countryside below, one might pine for the ocean’s salt air. One day we decide to set out to find for which we yearn, only to reach a major crossroads.  We find the road forks into many paths, two might lead to the left and one might bear to the right, around something blocking the way.

Decisions on how to go forward persist, where the act of deciding cause one to stop, rest and sit down before the crossroads.

For a long 40 years we sat there, unable to decide on any of the paths. Each one appeared to be scary. Roads we were sure led in a direction we might not want to go.


It might seem a throw back to the 70’s but was it not then writers were predicting we reached a crossroads of environmental, population and economic catastrophe?  The roads were paved with unlimited pollution and resource shortage. Remember gas rationing and long lines at the gas stations? The push to drive smaller, more gas efficient cars? Many may not, as we bury our heads in the sand and fail to look back.

Here we are 40 years later, and it seems that we still await the crisis, all 7.3 billion of us. I am wondering how much is the same and how much is different? Way more people. In 1970 there were half as many people, 3,706,618,163.

With no regulations on natural resources, there is no reason to use them responsibly. At least by irresponsible people. There certainly is no responsibility on unbridled population growth either. Are we at the end of_______or beginning of________? Fill in the blanks. It all depends if one has hope.



Are the snails not representative here of people in the world? Yes, we enjoy beauty but we also consume it for our own needs and growing population. Just as a few snails become many to eat a garden to sticks, people are doing the same thing in a sense, but without the natural predators keeping them in check.

It seems we need a new focus, one that creates happiness not by accumulation and consumption, but by actually consuming less. Actually being less.



Forty years, moving slow in areas where we needed to act quickly. Maybe one day like our snail, all our worldly belongings will be carried on our backs too.



So what road do we take, or is it going to chosen for us?

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9 Responses to At the Crossroads

  1. Debra says:

    An apt image: people as consuming snails. I was trying to think today at what point does soemthing become a pest instead of just another inhabitant. I think we reached pest status a long time ago. Oh, and lovely photos. =)

  2. My Heartsong says:

    Great photos. Crossroads. I think of Robert Johnson and see a similar theme of selling our soul to get what we want. I am amazed at how nature perseveres in spite of what humans do. Yes, I remember the gas line-ups and saving energy for electricity too. We reduced packaging but that has risen again as well.I give samples at the grocery store and see everything is laced with sugar or artificial sweeteners and what the food industry does to keep us addicted and to keep selling. Consumers for the most part are wiser and keep educating me and I am happy that they are on their toes, not buying everything that comes to the store and they are rising up against genetically modified products and harmful insecticides. .That is progress and hope to me. So is growing and buying locally. The city that I live in is actually looking at changing the by-law so people can raise bees in their backyard to help with pollination.We need education and we need to take responsibility, but often we do make laws to force us to change-we are all anti-smoking here in public places, for instance.Some would call that having a police state but for all the people with asthma and COPD it is a relief.

  3. Mankind never seem to start a reaction until the last second. On some of these issues it won’t probably be enough time. Great post. Thanks!!!😀

  4. alesiablogs says:

    NOW–I am going to have to spend time going through all these other photos…So Sorry I missed this. When I have some extra time, I am going to go through more of these photos…You are a stinker…I did not catch that when I was reading the posts or either I was too caught up in the blog I was reading to see you had other links for me to go to…..You will have to forgive me. : ( I am also going to be on vacation starting tomorrow so I may be more absent for about a week. I hope to have some great shots from Canada to share….I have been meaning to call you…Lets catch up in a week or so…..Alesia

  5. Beautiful set of shots Donna, unfortunatly we never change untill its too late, we can see the crossroad ahead and we get out our map a long time in advance to plan our route, but the wheel is far too heavy to steer us in the right direction as only a few are trying to turn the wheel, it needs a lot more people to pull together and turn that wheel to head us down the right path.

  6. Hey Donna:
    Decided to ‘follow’ you on this new blog as it’s harder for me to navigate between the two on my own.
    I’m enjoying the development of your personal prose accompanying those always stunning photos of yours…and am looking forward to plenty more!

  7. Lyle Krahn says:

    Fantastic prose to go with those wonderful photos. It’s amazing what changes over 40 years and what doesn’t. The only thing that seems consistent is that the predictions tend to be wrong.

  8. The clarity and detail on these photos is amazing!

  9. I fear it will be chosen for us since many are burying their heads as you say….I am trying to go the more simple route, getting rid of stuff and not buying more….no cell phone, one TV, one car, one computer….we make it work and I hope more will wake up but I doubt it. So much we can all do.

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