How America works

[Ron Gatrelle]

A common statistic I often hear is that in almost all arenas of life 80% of
the work is done by only 20% of the people - or less.  Ms Martha is very
correct, the below IS  how America (and the whole world) works. The
unfortunate reality is that what Leroy described IS how a growing % of
Americans (and others in the world (we are infecting?) with our juvenile
values of excuse) don't work - they would rather be part of the problem
than part of the answer.

In this line of thought -- the seeming blanket vilification of collectors
and collecting (by a FEW) does nothing about the real problem - habitat
loss.
Ron

PS   I have now opened the door for The Nature Conservancy (and others) to
jump in and let us know what the 20% are doing while most just sit at the
picnic table in the manicured-bug-sprayed city park and just point fingers.
One thing TILS is doing is to try to discover (collect), determine
(scientifically identify), and document (publish)  butterfly and moth
species and subspecies before they become extinct with no one ever having
known they even existed! At TILS our motto is "As a world community, we can
not protect that which we do not know." Collecting - from Moon rocks to
urine samples, is the first step to all other scientific information.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Martha Rosett Lutz" <lutzrun at AVALON.NET>
To: <LEPS-L at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2001 2:50 PM
Subject: How America works


SNIP
> If you want to see how America works, visit my neighborhood on a snowy
day
> in winter, when the teens are busy shoveling out the driveways and
> sidewalks of elderly or disabled neighbors.  Visit The Fun Zone, a toy
shop
> here in Iowa City, where the owner made (by hand) a stuffed bear for a
> little boy who wanted a kind of bear not available from commercial
sources
> (a "Quiet Red Bear") and gave it to the child--no charge.  Visit Lisa
> Roberts, a cancer survivor in Fayette County (Iowa), who coordinates
> assignment to homes for high school students visiting America from
> countries in Europe.  Lisa always takes one of the students into her own
> home, in addition to raising her own two children, coaching at a local
> school, and being involved in community activities.
>
> And then there are the two professionals from the University of Iowa who
> donated their time and expertise to present seminars on eating disorders
> and sports nutrition for the Iowa City community.
>
> Not to mention the local medical doctors who volunteer their time to run
a
> free medical clinic for people who cannot afford insurance.
>
> Or the young boy who donated almost his entire life savings (at about age
> 10) to a fund to help a disabled man afford to travel to visit his family
> in another state.
>
> I could go on and on.  You won't read about these people in the
newspapers.
> What they do isn't 'news.'  It's just the way America works, and there's
> nothing newsworthy about that, is there?
>
> Anyway, take heart.  What makes the headlines is not representative of
how
> America works, anymore than a two-headed calf is representative of the
> dairy industry.  It just sells papers better, that's all.
>
> No real lep news today . . . our 69th day of rain since Spring officially
> began, and my younger daughter found a forewing of a Red Admiral on the
> track this morning, otherwise not much to tell!
>
> In Stride,
> Martha Rosett Lutz



 
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