Earth Day Entry a Few Days Late

...no, I don't mean the first day of creation---I mean the first Earth Day...back in 1970. I am old enough to remember it and remember it well. I was a sophomore at Carbondale Community High School and I was in love with my Biology II teacher Patrick Schmalenberger. (whose boundaries, as we say, were totally secure). He had recently graduated from college and this was his first, and it may have been his only, teaching position...I see he was still teaching in '04 and may be now retired. I tried to find a picture of him on the Internet but failed. He had the dimples of John Davidson (Mr. Davidson is in town playing at a dinner theater) and the sweet and encouraging spirit was just the thing this girl needed to actually find interest in a science class, rather than the humanities classes I loved. That first Earth Day, Mr. Schmalenberger somehow got us (maybe 2 or 3 of us) out of our afternoon classes and we made posters to illustrate how we could take better care of the environment. My parents went to parent-teacher conference a few weeks after this and I still remember what he said to my mother, "she's a real fireball!" I took that as a compliment as I would today.

I guess I was just thinking how wonderful it is to have teachers who teach for the love of their curriculum and for the benefit of the students. That first Earth Day was a time I learned much about how to care for the eco-systems which we were invading and still are invading and which can lead to ruin of that g thing God created in Genesis 1---the earth and everything it it which God called very very good. Cana and I are committed to making some real changes around here in terms of leaving a greener life. We already recycle, although our condo association does not have curb side recycling. I have found a couple of places to take it. As we talked about her knitting us bags to take to the grocery story, I could not help but think of that day I got out of class, got to be in Mr. Schmalenberger's presence, and found pictures and articles to glue to poster board and set out around the school to educate students on the ecology. Earth Day is a good thing. It would be an even better thing if our churches stopped using those styrofoam coffee cups and made the effort to recycle. That would be the poster I would have made this year.