How I Became an Environmentalist: My Pop
My father, Roy Hendry, has always been someone I longed to emulate. His strong moral fiber and deep sense of family and compassion are values I’ve yet to see equaled in anyone (probably explains why I’m not married, lol). But the one thing about him that I admire the most, he doesn’t even realize he does - and that’s his consideration for the creatures with whom he shares this planet. When I was a little girl and my parents would take me with them when they went diving off their boat in the Florida Keys, I would watch as my father would float above the reef, taking extra care not to disturb anything - unless it was to pick up some other careless diver’s trash. If he was diving for lobster or fishing, he would take only what our family needed to eat, and then dispatch the critters in the most humane way possible. “We have to take care of the ocean, Keri,” he would say, “And she will take care of us.” All of my life I have watched as my dad would be extra cautious to leave as little a footprint on Mother Nature as possible. The following story illustrates this point clearly:
Last night Dad was a few minutes late meeting me at a restaurant for dinner. When he sat down, he explained his tardiness. “I was leaving the driveway and I saw a chicken snake in the road,” he said. (For those of you who don’t know, chicken snakes are great creatures to have in your yard as they eat bugs) “I didn’t want it to get run over, so I stopped, went back to the garage, and got a hoe. I picked him up with the hoe and set him in the yard.”
At this point, I am beaming at my father, and he has no idea why!
