I was born in 1973. A stroll back on the timeline to this point in history reads a bit like a rendition of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire."Aside from my entry into the world, a lot happened that year.
In brief, among other things, 1973 was the year of Roe v. Wade, the start of the Watergate hearings, the OPEC Oil Embargo, and the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. Egypt and Syria joined forces to attack Israel on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, beginning the Yom Kippur War. The last U.S. soldier left Vietnam three days after my birthday. Secretariat won the Triple Crown, the Sears Tower was completed, and the famous Battle of the Sexes tennis match was played between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. In entertainment, The Godfather won the Academy Award for best picture and Pink Floyd's album Dark Side of the Moon was released. On the actual day of my birth, March 26, 1973, women were admitted to the London Stock Exchange for the first time and the soap opera Young and the Restless debuted.
I thought about selecting the Yom Kippur War as the subject of my piece. After all I was just in Israel four months ago, and I learned quite a bit about the rich and relatively recent history of the country of Israel. I find it fascinating to consider the juxtaposition of the ancient land of Israel and the country of Israel; the same land with two histories. But I decided to go in another direction.
Few things are as earth shattering as my birth or the debut of the fascinating storylines about the Newmans and the Abbotts of "Y&R," so I elected to focus on my birth year over my birthdate.
In addition to Roe v. Wade, another piece of legislation was passed. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 was signed into law by President Nixon with the purpose of preventing extinction, recovering imperiled plants and animals, and protecting ecosystems. Though it evolved from the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, in 1973 Congress worked to expand the reach of the protective act worldwide. The U.S. led 80 nations in the signing of an international agreement about the trade, treatment, and protection of plants and animals.
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| West Indian Manatee- Threatened Species |
It's no secret I'm a lover of nature and living things. I can't help but think it's kind of cool this piece of legislation was signed into the books the year I was born. It's also a reminder that as a modern people, our love and respect for the natural world is recent. (Though I know the care of the natural world has always been a part of the lives of indigenous and native peoples throughout the world.)
Biosphere
No matter how small,
each being has a place
the circle of life, as they say,
is not flat, it is a sphere,
an orb of robust working systems
some smaller than a pinprick
difficult to imagine,
others large enough to see
each equally essential
Dare to remove one in a way
nature never intended
and rue the day
when the systems break down
the parts no longer replaceable
the jobs no longer fillable
Everything is replaceable?
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