Sitting on the fence at the end of the trail, it seems that all I can hear is the white noise that comes from the road. Although this commotion seems to be overpowering my initial feeling of being on a secluded path, when I listen closely I can hear the chirping of a bird. I listen more closely and hear the tweet of another, then the hoot of a morning dove, and eventually the white noise from the road fades into the background as I listen to their songs.
It is interesting how we tend to block out the beautiful sounds of nature and instead give our attention to the noise of the man-made world, when it is perfectly easy to focus on the simple songs of birds in a tree. When I am finally able to focus on the sounds I have grown to block out or not notice, I realize what I have been ignoring, and what I’ve been missing. Obviously the sounds of the birds are more pleasant than those of the road, but we forget to seek out these sounds. Imagine the way your day could perk up if you simply stopped for only five minutes to block out the bustle of man’s world and meditate on the sound of the Earth and animals around you. I know that my day would definitely improve tenfold.
The overwhelming noise that comes from the road represents how the pressure for us to remain in constant motion can drown out the simple pleasures that we often forget to stop for. So if you hear the twitter of a bird, try to pause your busy day and listen in for only a minute: you will realize what beauty the Earth has to offer as an alternative to the noisy lives we feel the need to take part of.
Already this class has led me to stop and think about my surroundings. From taking the in-class quiz to exploring a trail on campus that I had no idea about, I have learned so much about the environment: not only its physical characteristics but its context with the rest of the world, both past and present. What better education is there than that?
The walking tour of the Gambles Mill trail allowed me to see not only the things currently surrounding me, but also what has been in those same surroundings and what is to come of them in the near future. I am fairly certain that I was the only one who did not know that the University of Richmond land had once been a theme park. It is interesting to think about how there are no remains of the great metal pieces of the theme park that was once on our campus. Yet, when the university tries to cover up true wilderness with planted greens and sod lawns, the wild continues to grow back: the cracks between the bricks on the pavement of all the pathways are symbols of how the grass is pushing through even the strongest of materials to reach sunlight. This is similar to how TLB said that at one point men tried to make all rivers run straight. Obviously, the meandering of the rivers overpowered the men, and we gave into nature. Unlike how the great theme park was able to be replaced by a university, nature is unable to be completely smother. Creations of men come and go, but the creations of Earth will always abide.