I have searched for ages for the right passage to describe how I feel about Mother Earth, but nothing ever seems to do the complexities any justice. I always assumed someone must have already said the things I’d like to say, and certainly they must have said them better, but as I grow older my tastes and interests become more specific, and I dare not share something that is not undeniably true to me.
I think the closest anybody came was Wallace Stegner when he said, “I only really want to say that we may love a place and still be dangerous to it.”
I love the world in the ways in which I believe a thing should be loved. I love it unconditionally, with the knowledge that it is not for me to hold onto for myself, but to strive to save what is left of it so that others may experience that kind of love. Nature is not worth protecting so that we may benefit from it, it is for our children, and their children.
I have found myself lost in nature only to find myself not lost at all. I have walked many miles with nothing but the sound of the wild and my own footsteps to keep me company. John Muir said “I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” And he was right. To walk and stand in in the wilderness is to feel something that has become uncommon, it can only benefit to go back to where we became.
Have you ever stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon and peered in? Taken a moment where the ocean meets the land? Humanity needs now, more than ever, to remember where we have come from, and see how far we have yet to go. The world is a magnificent and magical place. We have a responsibility to protect the lands laced with culture and history, even if you (falsely) believe that history is not yours. We need to re-examine our history as a people so that we can understand the importance of the lands we inhabit and how much farther we have yet to go.
We stole these lands from people who appreciated them and we have done more damage than we can repair. This Earth is not ours, we are borrowing it from those we stole it from, and from the many generations to come. We owe them far more than to use the Earth’s resources to depletion. If we want any hope for the betterment of the world, we have to make our planet safe and we have to do it yesterday. We should to allow ourselves the ability to reconnect with our respect for the natural world before it’s too late.
Go outside. Sit in silence with the Earth and listen to what she tells you. Take a new trail and get yourself a little lost, discover that spending time is nature is being found. Connect with and learn from Her. Find your own wild places that feel comfortable and stand up to protect them.