The Code of the River and Gamekeeper

"When the morning light has touched my face I will awake to the new challenges of the earth.  The water, the land, the air are my inheritance and the fish that swim, the deer that roam, the flowers that shine their glory on this earth and all other creatures both big and small are my children.  Whether I am a fisherman or a hunter, or just a naturalist I will respect the bounty of nature with proper use and preserve it for coming generations.  I do this because I am the riverkeeper, I am the streamkeeper, I am the gamekeeper, I am part of this circle of nature and this circle cannot be broken.

It is the noblest of purposes that I am the keeper and it is with the noblest of purpose that I honor the code of stewardship of this earth.  Never let it be said that I have failed because if I do,  the earth's children will  be poorer for it.  I must pass it on to the next generation of keepers.  Each of us is the last river and gamekeeper.  Each of us is responsible for the earth's stewardship.

In the end I will be judged not by the gold I have accumulated or the dominions of my power but by what is left of the world I inherited and made better.  And whatI did as the keeper and what I  passed on."

The Code of the River and Gamekeeper

by

Eugene P. Macri Jr.