Within the world of technology looking down has become common practice, and almost instinctual for humans to do. We look down at our phone screens and avoid eye contact with others. When we finally look up and out at nature we can finally feel peace and connection that no phone screen could ever give.
A week ago I was in the union all day studying in a conference room without any windows for 4 hours. I went in at 2 pm when the sun was high in the sky and left when it was beginning to set around 6. When I left the Union I remembered this blog post assignment, and I decided to sit outside and wait for the sun to set. When I was sitting outside I started to reflect on how disconnected from nature I am. With the semester coming to an end and work piling up I am focused so much on my computer that I forget to look up and enjoy what’s around me. When I was sitting and watching the sun go down I put on some music and decided to observe as much as I could. I thought about the grass I was sitting on and how interesting humans use grass. It’s a sign of nature and a sign of class. a nice clean-cut yard looks nice, but if we let grass just grow it’s seen as unkempt. Grass also is a place for everyone to walk on and dance on and enjoy. It’s such a common plant that we don’t think of its existence often. Another observation I made was when the sun began to set. When the sun was going down and the sky became colorful people stopped to appreciate it. When a day comes to an end and we get that small moment of beauty, people do stop to enjoy it.
As I was sitting I began to think about human impact on the environment. We’ve caused such destruction for our planet, and without massive changes, we will cause our extinction. How did we cause this? How did we get to a point where there’s nothing the common person can do to change this? How did we go from living in trees to living in massive buildings and cities? I started to get discouraged. I mean thinking about our destruction can make anyone upset! But I realized something… everything we’ve made and built was for each other. everything we’ve built was for people to live and work together. yes, we live outside of nature and are ignorant of some huge issues, but humans are nature. All of our buildings and roads are just the huge ecosystem of humans. Were destroying our planet, but we’ve done it for mankind and each other. Thinking like this is a part of the problem, but it can be beautiful. It’s amazing what we’ve built together.
As the sun started to set and my time thinking like Walden was coming to an end, I was grateful for everything around me. I’m grateful for my education and the shoes I wear. I’m grateful for everyone around me. I’m grateful that people have come together to build our beautiful campus. I’m grateful that the sun will rise again tomorrow and we’ll get to live another day.