Nature Journal 14


Grand Canyon
            I went to the Grand Canyon in the Spring of 2019 with my two brothers and my friend Michael. It was a trip that the four of us had been planning for quite a long time and were all extremely excited when the plans were finally coming to fruition. We arrived at the Grand Canyon relatively early in the day and it was absolutely breathtaking. The rocks seemed to be shining from their surface. They looked as if the sun had painted each edifice with its own gemstone gleam without changing the outer look of the rock itself. I did not know that something so exteriorly dull could fill the world with so much color and light. However, there was something else striking about the canyon besides the obviously radiant beauty of it. The canyon seemed dignified as if its majesty was demanding a sense of reverence from all who dared to look upon it. The canyon seemed to be reminding me that there was more to nature than simply recognizing its obvious beauty. Part of truly appreciating nature is to have respect for it. For a person to fully come to a realization of the importance of nature one needs to recognize that is more than a something pretty to view but also a part of an ecosystem. It is the home to many creatures and sustains a multitude of life. It is important to look beyond the initial superficial beauty of nature and to start seeing nature as the important member of our ecosystem. I think this part of what it means to think like a mountain. The Grand Canyon is undeniably beautiful, but it also is the home to many creatures. The Grand Canyon does not know that it is beautiful; it simply exists in the environment as it is and does not distinguish itself from any other rock. Its value was artificially placed on it by humans and that is why we need to redefine and reevaluate how we determined the importance beauty of nature because I think that when we do this, all of nature will be as beautiful as the Grand Canyon.









Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nature Observation 1

      I was strolling around the TCU campus today and that is when I saw the leaf. Now, normally I wouldn't think much of this because there are many trees on campus and thus there are a even more leaves. However, this leaf managed to catch my eye not because of its connection to the tree but its independence from it. It was falling. Although, falling does not seem to be the right word because falling could mean falling as in when one drops a rock and it plummets to the ground, no, this was a more graceful descent. It twirled and spiraled in a graceful waltz before it gently landed on the warm, soft grass. I was like watching a single wing try to take flight, but no matter how hard it flapped it could not take flight. I walked over to it and picked it up. It felt its rough, smoothness grip my skin. I got the feeling that if rubbed hard enough the leaf cut cut my skin but at the same time water could run right over it without any hindrance. But, the oddest thing about the ...
Read more
Dalton Johnson & Eric Haacker Dr. Williams HCOL 40023 11 December 2019 Project link: https://youtu.be/6Q2PkyEH0HE Justification For our final project we chose to do a music video recounting as many of the quotes, essays, and experiences we’ve had over the semester. Our goal was to use these means to explain what all we have learned during our time in this class. We start with the simple question or realization that the world is changing and it’s up to us to help change the direction, but we didn’t really know how. By mentioning the songs from the beginning of the semester and Leonardo Dicaprio’s documentary Before the Flood , we were reflecting on what we as a human race have done, and are still doing to the earth. We’ve torn down entire rainforests, removed natural landmarks, and commercialized entire plots of land as a result of the growing industry market and the movement towards urbanization. The rest of the song reflects on what we’ve done in the semester that h...
Read more

Nature Journal 1

I saw a cricket today. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the insect despite that fact that I had noticed the creature. It moved to quickly for me to take a picture and thus I am not able to show you it now. It looked like any other cricket with its rough, scratchy, black exoskeleton and long wiry legs. It was just sitting on a tall blade of grass and preparing for its next jump. The cricket did not even chirp, as crickets tend to do, but rather sat there silent and austere. It was just a cricket, and yet something about it made me pause and think.  What a simple, insignificant life this cricket led. If that it was to die no one would care or more likely even notice. In fact, no one (myself excluded) seemed to even notice the cricket while it was alive. I guess that cricket is kind of like us in that way. Most of lead lives that will be so soon forgotten to time and history. The only thing noteworthy in our existence is what is seen by the brief glance of a passerb...
Read more