![\"Morris](\"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Morris-head-new.jpg\")
<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n(Brookfield, NY \u2013 Feb. 2013) This simple country man respectfully disagrees with family friend poet Robert Frost\u2019s observation that \u201cthe land was ours before we were the land\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n
In A. B. Guthrie Jr. epic award winning series of books on the opening and development of the American West, I have mined important nuggets of wisdom\u2014and also warnings\u2014that I find germane and very applicable to the highly controversial natural gas fracking issue currently being hotly debated all across New York State.<\/p>\n
In Guthrie\u2019s\u00a0The Last Valley\u00a0Ben Tate, a small town Montana newspaper owner is having a heart to heart talk with Mike, a young journalism student aspiring one day to be a similar small town newspaper man.<\/p>\n
When Tate became the paper\u2019s young owner many years before, he was only slightly older than the young man sitting in his cluttered office.\u00a0\u00a0Tate reminisced about those early years and how enthusiastically\u00a0he supported any change, new jobs and progress, whatever the cost.\u00a0\u00a0Change being in those days synonymous with progress, growth and prosperity.<\/p>\n
As Tate grew older his unbridled Chamber of Commerce optimism and change at any cost significantly changed as he observed the numerous negative ramifications in his community and even state.\u00a0\u00a0Ben Tate\u2019s \u201cbig picture\u201d concerns also reflect mine regarding the long range dangers of allowing natural gas drilling\/fracking in The Empire State.<\/p>\n
At one point Tate tells the young man \u201cThe land doesn\u2019t possess us\u2026we abuse it every day so long as abuse brings a profit.\u201d<\/p>\n
He goes on to say,\u201d We still have to learn to love and cherish and protect it\u2026.We can\u2019t keep digging and cutting and polluting.\u00a0\u00a0We can\u2019t keep poisoning and exhausting our top soil or giving it to the wind.\u00a0\u00a0We can\u2019t if we want to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n
To the young journalism student Tate warned, \u201cJust remember the earth is all we have.\u00a0\u00a0Her riches are limited.\u00a0\u00a0When she goes, we go\u2026But in the name of progress we keep drawing on an account that can be overdrawn\u00a0\u2026.Progress leaves no retreat.\u00a0\u00a0What is called progress doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tate\u2019s final advice\u00a0to young Mike was to educate and inform the public and to speak as an editor with concern for the future.\u00a0\u00a0And finally, the greatest challenge and advice for all of us today:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIf only we can get people to love the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the \u201cBig\u00a0Picture\u201d question that every New Yorker must seriously ask himself.\u00a0\u00a0Do I love Mother Earth enough to protect it now and for the future?\u00a0\u00a0Will my love help trump profit and exploitation with its false and temporary progress?\u00a0\u00a0Always remember that our Earth is our only home.\u00a0\u00a0If it goes we go.<\/p>\n
But these are only the musings of a simple country man and his thoughtful and beautiful wife Lois who earnestly hope that their concerns for the sacredness of Mother Earth are shared by many others and we will all continue to loudly and forcefully fight for the future of Mother Earth.<\/p>\n
Hobie Morris is a Brookfield resident and simple country man.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Musings of a Simple Country Man By Hobie Morris (Brookfield, NY \u2013 Feb. 2013) This simple country man respectfully disagrees with family friend poet Robert Frost\u2019s observation that \u201cthe land was ours before we were the land\u2019s.\u201d In A. B. Guthrie Jr. epic award winning series of books on the opening and development of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2496,22458,8034,9057,20466],"class_list":["post-42367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brookfield-ny-news","tag-fracking","tag-gas-drilling","tag-hobie-morris","tag-the-musings-of-a-simple-country-man"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}