Road Journals – Part 1

“God help the outcasts,
Hungry from birth,
Show them the mercy
they don't find on earth;
God help my people,
we look to you still;
God help the outcasts,
or nobody will.”

The Hunchback of Notre Dame,

God Help the Outcasts

He had truly been born

In the wrong time and place

Once regarded as quite regal

Disgrace had befallen his race

Once revered and glorified

By both peasants and kings

A world now turned upside down

To his kind only sorrow would bring

He and his family had once reigned

In a thriving lush green countryside

City residents would come for miles

To glimpse upon his kind with pride

Children loved movies about him

They delighted in seeing his story

He was portrayed as a young prince

In all his regal green forested glory

But the times had woefully changed for him

The modern world had lost all compassion

We’ve paved over his lovely green kingdom

His kind are definitely now out of fashion

I found him lying there beside the road

Just before he exhaled his last breath

I tried to comfort him the best I could

As I sadly watched him meet his cruel death

He had been callously and absentmindedly run down

As he tried to scamper away filled with dread and fear

But not many humans will even care about his passing

Hell he was only a modern day nuisance – just a young deer

As I sadly got back in my truck

And headed off into the dark night

A feeling of remorse about modern morality

Filled my heart and soul with his kind’s plight

These days we seem to care very little

About other life forms on our planet

And I truly mourn our loss of reverence

Since no life should be taken for granted

Today numerous towns and municipalities across the U.S.

Have branded the once regal deer as a modern nuisance

And now organized posses diligently shoot them down

In a selfish modern world that seems devoid of all sense

“I don't know if you can hear me,
Or if you're even there;
I don't know if you would listen
To a gypsy's prayer;
Yes, I know I'm just an outcast,
I shouldn't speak to you;
But, still, I see your face, and I wonder,
Were you once an outcast, too?”

©2005, Ed Kostro

Disney has just re-released the 1942 Bambi animated cartoon on DVD.  The once young revered prince of the forest now gets a special two-disc edition with an all-digital restoration, re-mastered sound, lots of extras, and a hefty modern price.

This 63-year old coming-of-age deer story combines both comedy and tragedy, with the latter, of course, provided by the interloper in Bambi’s beloved woods -- man.

But I have to wonder how our children today can cope with these mixed messages about the value of life from their adult mentors.  And I also have to wonder how many of the adults who now willingly participate in modern day atrocities against our nonhuman neighbors will also be lovingly buying their kids and grandkids this re-released Bambi video which teaches respect for all creatures.

Today, on a routine basis, our children witness:  massive ‘nuisance deer’ slaughter; corporate removal and destruction of waterfowl and their eggs and nests from office and subdivision ponds; massive bureaucratic and government sanctioned roundups and poisonings of stray felines; ever increasing municipal and county bird feeding fines and bans; more and more destruction of Bambi’s once ‘green kingdom’ in our never-ending lust for urban expansion; and an alarming increase in extremely callous legislative bills from our Congressmen which advocate the removal of all remaining federal protections for migratory birds, wolves, wild mustangs, and many other animals.

Killing animals for food is once thing, but slaughtering them whole scale because we now believe them to be in the way of ‘progress’ is a far different matter.

I thank God that I grew up with adult mentors who never gave me such mixed messages about the value of life – they consistently taught me to respect all of Nature.

And I truly wonder if it’s already too late to instill this respect for all types of life into our current and future generations of ‘modern day’ kids.