Ecologists talk about carrying capacity. When a species exceeds the carrying capacity of its native environment there is a die-back. Thus turns the wheel of life, in ebbs and flows. People on the planet are in a peculiar position. We can understand this concept of carrying capacity and we can try to do something about it. Why would we as a species welcome a die-back? Sheesh. If the lemmings could see it coming they’d probably take the month off and hunker down in front of the TV set.
It’s been my commonplace observation that there are a lot of peopole living on the planet today and that means that there will be a lot of people dying in our time. I don’t want to turn Sandhill into an obituary column, yet I don’t want to fail to mark the passage of loved ones, dear ones, important ones, and simply ones and twos whose passing marks me in some way.
The father (and father-in-law) of some friends died this week. Max Brown was 88, and now he is gone.
