Tranquility

I am happy that in the middle of the hassle of moving, getting people to clean and paint today (3rd December 2022, my Guatamalan, nature loving friend Rosa, called to tell me she was going to Wakodahatchee Park to look at the birds.

You know me. Just say outdoors and I am there!

So, I told her give me two hours. 

Thankfully she did and it was a really a great afternoon. 

The Wakodahachee Wetlands, opened in 1996 are in Delroy Beach, Florida. 

It has a three-quarter mile boardw​alk that crosses between open water areas and islands with shrubs and snags to foster nesting and roosting.

 This site is part of the Great Florida Birding Trail and offers many opportunities to observe birds in their natural habitats. 

Over 178 bird species have been identified there, along with turtles, alligators, rabbits, fish, frogs and raccoons and the words that come to mind are peace, beauty and tranquility. 

 I had the feeling I might have been there before with a Meet Up group, but nothing quite rung a bell. But I did, for I found the blog I did on that visit. 

Joan, my views: Alligator mating call (joan-myviews.blogspot.com)

Anyway this is the type of place you visit over and over again if you can. 

In fact we met a retired federal officer who is an amateur photographer and he admitted he had been visiting this park for 47 years! 

We thought this stork was a dried branch! Great camoflage

I suspect he is not the only one, since all around you see dozens of photographers, amateur and professional, toting huge expensive cameras,  just hoping to get that special shot!

This is not just a place for leisure seekers and bird watchers though, for it is reported that each day, the Southern Region Water Reclamation Facility pumps approximately two million gallons of highly treated wastewater into the Wakodahatchee Wetlands, which in turn acts as a percolation pond, returning billions of gallons of fresh water back into the water table.

For us though, it is a place to enjoy nature and find peace and tranquility.

A colorful iguana

A tree covered with storks

George, the Park's mascot!

 

Caster Semenya

I find the treatment by the International Athletics Association and the world press of 19 year old South African Caster Semenya totally unforgivable.

What future now lies for this poor child after her privacy has been so terribly invaded and mauled by the international press? Granted she does not seem to have been given the 'normal" set of tools as most of the rest of mankind ( and womankind) but she is a human being with feelings, so why have these insensitive idiots treated the delicate matter of her sexuality in such a callous, insensitive and downright wicked manner?

Poor Caster was born with a vagina visible and thus treated as a girl her parents. Then she made the mistake of getting involved in athletics and having excelled in her chosen field, has now become the scourge of the athletic world with barbs like "they have to include a special category for it" being thrown at her with scant regard for her feelings. Imagine being referred to as an it by so-called journalists!

God created her as she is. Her major manifestations are female while hidden inside her are male organs and hormones. So she must now suffer international ridicule for the rest of her life for something over which she had not control, thanks to the International Athletics Association.

Which brings me to a general attitude to homosexuality by some who pretend to be speaking for God.

I have always had the greatest sympathy for homosexuals for regardless of what others claim, I have been always convinced that these urges are not something that we humans have any control over.

I have always based this premise on my own simple experience for when I became sexually aware, I did not say "ok I am going to fall for boys instead of girls". That came naturally and without any input from me as it was in where I was born and to what parents. These are some of the things that we have absolutely no control over but indeed must learn to play the hand we are dealt. Yet we have religious leaders leaders preaching death and damnation to those unfortunate enough to find themselves in the position that is not considered normal by society, like being attracted to their own gender.

I don't know whether Caster is attracted to males or females, but her dilemma and that of other hermaphrodites is the extreme. It is my opinion that homosexuals are driven by an urge that is related to their internal makeup, nothing they can do anything about and nothing to do with them being sexual deviants or perverts.

Wouldn't this be a wonderful world if we could only learn to accept people as God made them and stop taking on to ourselves the role of judges in things that we have no knowledge about or control over?

Next time you feel like judging another's lifestyle, stop and think how you would feel if you were born like a Caster or had a friend or relative who is not born with the attributes (internal and external) that society considers "normal".