My Passionate Nature

Rise by Eddie Vedder

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My family is extremely superstitious. My grandparents believe that when laying down chopsticks, one should never allow them to cross, because it bodes bad luck. My mother refuses to let me set my purse on the ground, for it means that I will not have a financially secure future. My father even refused to let me have the Joker as the desktop background for the family computer, believing it to be an augury. Somehow, this superstitious nature extended to an aversion of medicine—especially western medicine—to the point where my parents rubbed my hands to cure pains and scoffed at the idea of Tylenol to relieve headaches.

Unfortunately, it was Tylenol I needed the most last semester when I was invited to go to New York for the first time in my life with one of my best friends. I imagined a posh and exciting city, filled with delicious pizza, musicals, and fantastic shopping. To my great ire, my trip was marred by a splitting headache the moment I stepped off the plane. As we slipped and stumbled through the rigid chill of winter, I remembered my grandfather’s advice to look at green colors when faced with a headache. Completely desperate and in pain, I craned my neck madly for any green in the New York landscape.  

My search was thwarted. There was no such thing as “green” there. In the place of trees were buildings that seemed stifling to me. There was no grass, only concrete, and the occasional blow of a forsaken newspaper. As I was jostled by unyielding shoulders and shunted along by nudges in the small of my back, I felt panic. Where was the openness and freedom that I was so accustomed to? Where was the clarity and freshness that usually permeated my nostrils? For some reason, I felt like crying. All I wanted was to see some sky. Instead, I was treated to dense car exhaust and the sound of horns that replaced the gentle tickle of the wind. My morale was at an all time low, and I decided on the spot that I despised New York.

“A sense of place concerns that need to find a familiar landscape as refuge from the unknown, perhaps from the terrifying prospect of being set adrift in what would otherwise be a dimensionless, timeless, and chaotic world.  For a family in Paleolithic times the center of the world might have been a certain cave, near a certain river, within a certain valley. Their place—the cave, the river, and the valley—was for them an important bulwark against chaos.” [i]

Returning home after a trip is always a relief, but my three-day sojourn in the north ended with tears of joy at the sight of the Austin-Bergstrom Airport. I never loved Austin more than that moment in which I returned from the horrific grey of New York. My eyes feasted on the lush fields against the most pure sky imaginable, and my heart was gladdened. It was akin to drinking some sort of elixir. As I thought more and more about this newly realized effect nature had on me, I remembered instances in my childhood in which I felt truly happy…all of them had someone involved me being surrounded by nature. I recalled how at home I felt inside the magnolia trees of Mississippi, and how they offered sanction in my youthful tantrums. I remembered rolling around in the afternoon grass and how invincible I seemed.

The magnolia tree of childhood where I learned about the things that surrounded me, and more importantly, about myself. [ii]

Then, I began to recall more recent times in which I had been truly affected by the environment. I thought of how amazing it felt to gaze upon the snowcapped mountains of Wyoming and the sweeping pastures of Montana. Even when I was alone in the forest, or lying in the grass, I never felt alone. Instead, I felt more complete than ever before. Somehow, I felt closer to myself.

“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but Nature more.” [iii]

However, as we all know, our environment is in danger. Activists and scientists tell us that we must save our Earth for the animals and for our future. I agree with them, but I also believe that apart from protecting the environment for the polar bears, the air, and global warming, we should preserve it to keep some solace in this otherwise frantic world. Where is war in a babbling brook? What of poverty in the trunk of an oak tree? The flowers that surround the UT campus do not know of hate or fear. Consider the remedies that nature instills in the ailing and the hurt, and the peace it inspires in a heart full of torment. I believe that nature has the power to heal, because it reaches down to a place we cannot really identify, and it makes us feel at peace with the world.

“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.” [iv]

Perhaps my thoughts are naïve: that the sight of a tree can really solve a problem, but what has inspired the greatest minds of past generations of poets, artists, philosophers, scientists, and world leaders before can surely inspire again. Not only is nature aesthetically pleasing to the eye, but it stores some innate sort of perfection and truth that is worth more than a new skyscraper or hunting lodge. There is a profundity in nature that not only imparts a sense of wonder, but helps unite the human mind and soul. For example, Christopher McCandless was a graduate of Emory University and the son of a relatively affluent family, who decided to forsake his priveleged life and hike across the country to Alaska. He ultimately met his death in the Alaskan terrain after traveling through Arizona, Colorado, California, and South Dakota, but I believe that what he discovered about himself and others on this journey was just as valuable as the education he received upon graduating from the university. The following excerpt from McCandless’s journal shows the motivation and perspective he gained from his experience:

“Two years he walks the earth.

No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild.” [v]

A trailer for the movie Into the Wild, based on McCandless’s journey, which illustrates effectively the relationship between man and wild. [vi]

Nature has so much to offer, yet we have not been kind to it. We have used it incorrectly to make things convenient, sometimes when that convenience is superfluous. How can it be right for us exploit and deplete what has thus far catered so much to our needs? In many ways, our relationship with our environment is parasitic.

This picture of air pollution is only a small slice of the enormous pie of pollution rampant today. [vii]

I believe that there is still so much we can learn from the earth, and that we should take advantage of this opportunity for understanding, rather than destruction and exploitation. Consider Isaac Newton, who was inspired by the falling apple, or the Wright brothers, who studied birds while designing the first airplane. Velcro was invented when one man decided to investigate the reason for burrs sticking to his socks. Japanese engineers modeled the bullet train on the beak of a kingfisher.

“But today’s biomimetics goes one step further, using nature not only as a model but also, as Benyus puts it, as a “measure and mentor.” Faced with a problem — say, how to remove blood from hospital linens without using bleach — bionics specialists might look at how different insects who feed on blood (such as mosquitoes) manage to unhook the heme molecule, which makes blood red. Then they would try to reverse- engineer the chemistry of the insect’s method. DaimlerChrysler’s Mercedes division used a similar technique when looking for more-aerodynamic designs; ultimately, they created a concept car based on the body structure of a boxfish.” [viii]

We can work WITH our environment rather than against it, if we want to further ourselves as a race. All the materialistic pleasures in the world could not allow us to swim with the agility and preciseness of a shark, nor to duplicate the complicated systems of a beehive. What will we do when we can no longer enjoy the crisp smell of autumn air, or when thin layers of oil obscures the oceans? Have we forgotten that we depend on our oceans for more than just a dumping ground for waste or our trees for more than just houses? What about the joys of running our fingers through churning water? Could anything replace the way sunlight looks reflected in a child’s eyes? As we advance more and more in technology, ideas, and ways of life, we must not forget about our compassion and appreciation for the Earth, for she has born the slings and arrows of our deeds with tolerance and generosity.

The mountains of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. An example of the majesty of nature, and how precious it is. [ix]

No amount of convenience or fleeting pleasure could ever replace the strength of oak, the infinity of the sky, or the beautiful lines of a horse’s gallop. As humans, we are constantly in a state of perpetual motion, never ceasing to talk, move, and take up the next task that presents itself. In the presence of nature, however, we are forced to slow down, and for once, listen and observe. We are not expected to give our opinion, nor contest the ideas of others, but to simply respect. I truly believe that nature has a power to spiritually mend and inspire, to make people empathize and feel, and that we must do everything we can to protect it. It is not only our duty, in order to keep things on an even keel, but to preserve what has helped preserve us.

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[i] Norman Crowe, Nature & The Idea of a Man-Made World M.I.T. Press, 1995. (X251-253)

[ii] Late Evening Light on Magnolia Tree. Digital image. Flickr Images. <"http://farm1.static.flickr.com/195/505949665_24635fb259.jpg?v=0">.

[iii] "Lord Byron Quotes." BrainyQuote. <"http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/l/lord_byron.html">.

[iv] Frank, Anne. The Diary of Anne Frank. DoubleDay & Company.

[v] Christopher McCandless, Digihitch Movies. <"http://movies.digihitch.com/intothewild/chris-mccandless/quotes">.

[vi] "Into the Wild Trailer." Youtube. <"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lauzt_x8ek">.

[vii] Air Pollution Systems. Digital image. The Kassandra Project. <"http://kassandraproject.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/corporations-profit-and-pollution/">.

[viii] Millar, Heather. "Inspired by Nature." American Way 1 Feb. 2008.

[ix] Grand Teton Mountains. Digital image. Photos of America's Parks. <"http://www.ohranger.com/park/photos?page=4">.

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Rise by Eddie Vedder:

Such is the way of the world
You can never know
Just where to put all your faith
And how will it grow

Gonna rise up
Burning black holes in dark memories
Gonna rise up
Turning mistakes into gold

Such is the passage of time
Too fast to fold
Suddenly swallowed by signs
Low and behold

Gonna rise up
Find my direction magnetically
Gonna rise up
Throw down my ace in the hole