Respecting Nature

So the Lancaster City Council is considering building two new streets through a desert woodlands area to protect children walking to school (Part B, Feb. 7). We get this news on a page filled with news about a drive-by killing near Carson High School and another in Sylmar. The next page relates the trial of a man who drove into a group of pedestrians in Glendale and killed four people. So the parents want two streets built to protect their children?

This brings to mind the time in Manhattan Beach when parents complained about the dangers of Polliwog Pond, a small body of water once big enough for small boats and fishing. Parents feared a child might drown, so the pond was fenced off, partly filled in, and became a murky, trash-filled swamp. All this within one-half mile of the ocean. Were they to fence and fill the ocean as well? Kids climbed the fence and went polliwog catching. To my knowledge nobody drowned. The city fathers eventually saw the light. They created a park and re-created the pond as a place for fish, wild birds and people to enjoy.

Why do we fear our natural environment? Training people to know how to interact with Mother Nature is a better solution than to destroy the natural surroundings. Beach kids learn to swim and to respect the ocean and the pond. Desert children can learn to respect the desert and its wildlife and walk safely to school.

LAURA SCHOLTZ

Manhattan Beach