MOUNTAINEER'S MOTTO + Some Unsolicited Advice.

When I was still in college, I remember joining the mountaineering club among other organizations. I remember jogging around the inner periphery of the university campus in order to qualify some endurance test. My ever protective mom was fearful at the time, because a few montaineers were reported over the television to have died from Mt. Apo (tallest mountain in the Philippines) due to hypothermia and so my mom could not be persuaded to sign the parents waiver of my joining the mountaineers club, my first climb to Mt. Talamitam in Nasugbu, Batangas. Luckily, my persistence payed off since I was able to get my dad's signature instead. Hehehehe....... I know I can be hard headed at times.

Anyway, the leaders of the hike taught us many things. They taught the whole group how to watch over one another, do's and don'ts of a mountaineer or hiker and most important of all is their motto or slogan which says, "Kill nothing but time; Take nothing but pictures; Leave nothing but footprints".

However, there are instances wherein certain considerations must be done for the common good. For some people who are into conservation and preservation especially our Philippine flora and fauna, specimen collection must be done with good intentions in order to help preserve and propagate the dwindling population of species in the wild, especially now that so little of our virgin forest remains. For if in case such population of wild species become extinct, propagated species from private collections can be reintroduced in the wild to restock what was lost.

Lastly, my advice to collector's is to 1) Do your research. 2) Do not hoard so that wild specimens can replenish their population. 3) Do not destroy the natural habitat or environment of the flora or fauna when collecting specimens. 4) Give respect to all living things great and small. They too have a place in this planet we call Earth.