Masterpieces

We may never personally glimpse certain rare animals - wolves, ivory-billed woodpeckers, pandas, gorillas, giant squid, great white sharks, and grizzlies come to mind - but we need them as symbols. They proclaim the mystery of the world. They are jewels in the crown of the Creation. Just to know they are out there alive and well is important to the spirit, to the wholeness of our lives. If they live, then Nature lives. Surely our world will be secure, and we will be better for it.
(...)
This is how I see living species: masterpieces, legends.

---

from
The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth
by Edward O. Wilson
(2006) Norton, New York