©2019 C. Henry Martens


I was visiting a pond in the middle of nowhere, a small pool of water in the Nevada desert. It was cool and inviting, the banks shaded under the burning summer sun.
There was evidence of feral horse activity all around the watering hole, dragonflies zoomed around above it, and looking into the depths, I could discern all kinds of life. Little black beetles scurried about on the bottom carrying minuscule silvery air bubbles underneath their bodies. Reddish, hair-like plants rose from the muddy depths. Tiny fish swarmed and scattered.
The ecosystem worked. It worked without any human being interfering or improving or redesigning it.
Not long after I visited this perfect little world, I returned to find someone had released a few small goldfish into the pond.
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