I've Fallen And I Can't Get Up - Many of us were surprised and perhaps a little bit sad to hear that New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain had collapsed. (credit due to Ed King for the title of this entry)

State landmark falls from mountain - May. 4, 2003

I was wondering, what's to stop New Hampshire from constructing a replacement out of some long-lasting, light and authentic-looking polymer? They used healthy amounts of epoxy to hold the original in place, and even steel cables, so they are not above messing with nature. The new one would be a lot cheaper to maintain. They have plenty of pictures of the thing. A computer could probably model it.

OK - I don't really think it would be the same.

Maybe this says something about the youth of our nation. No, not the kids - I mean how youthful our nation is. One of our states has as its symbol a rock formation that only lasted just over a couple of centuries into the life of the country. Very adolescent to think a symbol like that is going to last forever. Maybe we ought to choose things that indicate we have some staying power.

On a related note, the American Eagle became endangered, and it took serious effort to get it some help. It would have been quite embarrassing had our national bird become extinct. But should embarrassment be our motivating factor in trying to preserve our environment?

Epoxy and steel cables can keep the form of our world in place for a limited time. Isn't a vibrant, healthy, thriving environment more important than appearances?