Its not only the east that showed concern, Chief Seattle, a famous Red Indian Chief, wrote this beautiful letter to the President of USA more than 200 years ago. Considered to be popular amongst the modern day scientists & environmentalist, the letter captures the essence of the ‘web of life’ beautifully.

This letter by Chief Seattle goes down as one of the finest pieces of timeless wisdom.

Chief Seattle’s reply to George Washington

“ The President in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. But how can you buy or sell the sky, the land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the water, how can you buy them? Every part of the earth is sacred to my people. Every shining needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every meadow, every humming insect. All are holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know the sap which courses through the trees as we know the blood that courses through or veins. We are part of the earth and it is part of us. The perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle these are our brothers. The rocky crests, the dew in the meadow, the body heat of my pony and man all belongs to the same family.

The rivers are our brothers. They quench our thirst. They carry our canoes and feed our children. So you give rivers the kindness that you would give any brother.

If we sell our land, remember that air is precious to us, that the air shares spirits with all the life that it supports. The wind that gave our grandfather his first breath also received his last sigh. The wind also gives our children the spirit of life. So if we sell our land, you must keep it apart and sacred, as a place where man can go to taste the wind that is sweetened by meadow flowers.

Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls on the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.

This we know: the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth. All things are connected like the blood that unites us all. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a stand in it. Whatever he does to the web he does to himself…”

It’s some of these that inspire us to understand the need of our role in this ever sensitive ecological diversity for maintaining a balance. It made us realize that we are not being truly civilized if we concern ourselves only with the relationship of man to man; what is important is the relationship of man to all life -" a relationship that is essentially one of reverence for all living things - plants, animals, wilderness, people, a relationship that leads to a life in harmony with nature."