Love is all you need

I’m stuck on the love boat. The emotion is such a powerful one it can be applied to anything. For an example: I love tomato soup. I mean, I  love it. So does my digestive system. So do my taste buds. With my  loveable VitaMix I can build a  tomato soup that never tastes the same way twice.

Those are my taste buds talking. In my new book, “Children of  the Extinction,” the kids do a lot of eating and, as I sit at my computer, I get a raging case of the munchies. Good thing I enjoy non-fattening snacks.

There are loves that strike my ears, too. I love Gaite Parisienne and Joan Baez. I love  harps and  pipes and the song of the birds. The screech of the parrot, the thunder of a peacock’s voice.

Fragrance? I love Shalimar. My mother always smelled of Shalimar. Her closets. Her dresser drawers. Her bathroom. You could nose her presence a block away.

For the eyes? I love green plants, tall trees, red  flowers. I love blue skies, grey skies, gold skies in the morning, red skies at night. I love moon glow, star shine and rainbow glitter. Ever seen a moon rainbow? “They” say you’re not an Hawaiian until you’ve seen one.

“They” say lots of things.

I love ink on paper. Words. I love the English  language. I love Vonnegut and Thurber and Sandberg.

What do I love to touch the most? My horse’s thick mane, my dog’s silky ears. I guess, today, what I love  most  are animals. All animals. The good, the bad and the ugly. A world without animals? Horrors.

I recall a debate as to whether animals have souls. It’s an interesting idea to a devout non-believer who does not “believe” in souls, but who does know, if there is such a thing, animals have one, too.

Gary Zukov, of all people, one of the finest interpreters of frontier science, believes animals have collective souls. His Seat of the Soul is a “readable, thought provoking (work) on how our perceptions must change dramatically if we are to survive.” If you have a curious, loving mind, I hope you find and read it.

What do I know from years of observation? From an open mind that can look and ask questions and not get totally lost in the god/no god thing? Loving all animals, that’s us, too, is a good idea. Our closest living relative  is the chimp. We can exchange blood — providing our type is the same, of course — and that, to me, a devout non-believer, is a wonderful thing to think. I love that we’re related to this incredible creature.

I hope all of you reading this will share with me this love. Will love all animals on this planet. Even us guys.

The essence is all about love. The love of life. Be thankful you’re a living thing on such a beautiful planet. Let’s hope greedy,  lesser minds do not destroy it.

• Bettejo Dux is a Kalaheo resident and author of “The Scam: A madcap romp through North Shore Kauai.”