Beauty in your own Background

I really enjoyed reading your posts, Ciara and Stephen! The pictures were great to look at. Unfortunately, I don't have any to share for my favorite nature encounter. While I wish I had a cooler experience than this to relate, I'd have to say my most magical experience with nature was a few years ago on a clear summer night in my backyard. My entire street used to be a farm, so my house backs up against two pretty dense fields. Normally, the most you ever see are some rabbits, deer, a hawk or two, and the occasional pheasant, but I remember one night my dad called me out in the backyard, saying there was something I had to see. I walked with him out past our pool and his shed to a point where two fields converge and saw a breathtaking sight: The entire field, which slopes downward and looks sort of like a valley, was filled with what looked like thousands of lightening bugs, all flashing furiously. At first it seemed to me like I was at a movie premier and a hundred paparazzi were flashing their cameras, but as my eyes adjusted to the darkness I was able to make out the farm down the hill from my house and the tree line and an old church off in the distance. I just sat there with my dad for a good twenty minutes taking in this unexpected but incredible view. I think what I like most about this story is that it happened right in my own backyard - it seemed to me like Aldo Leopold, when we read excerpts of "A Sand Count Almanac" for class this week, was making the case that the beauty of nature can be found most places you look, and I definitely relate to that. I realized that night (or maybe remembered is more accurate) that I live in an incredibly beautiful place, and I was reminded to keep my eyes open for the thousand little natural wonders that surround me every day.

To that effect, I absolutely think saving nature is something humans need to be concerned about. As much as this might be a cliche, I think that we have a responsibility to save nature if not for ourselves, than at least for the generations who come after us. They should have every chance we have had, if not more, to experience what an amazing planet we live on, to get caught by surprise in the beauty of an unexpected vista driving down the interstate or even just to realize how magnificent our own backyards can be. I also really like what Paul Wapner says about being members of an ecological community rather than masters of it. We are, as much as we might think otherwise, a part of this planet, and I think we have a duty to keep it as beautiful and vibrant as we can, for ultimately it isn't our earth to destroy. We're just borrowing it, and we should take the best care of it we can.