Last Person in the Woods

When is the last time you were outside? And I mean really outside. In a space of nature without tons of people milling about. Was it last week? Last month? Last year? Ten years ago? Ever?

Within walking distance from my house, there is only 1 park. By nature standards is pretty small, but its better than nothing. Until recently I had mostly only used the park to run in, and as an area for summer camp. Lately however I found that by going to the park in the middle of the day to be quite nice. I rarely see anyone, and when I do they're on the path. And its usually those super intense moms running their strollers at a mile a minute.

Since I have been coming to this park for most of my life, there isn't really any part that I haven't been to, especially since it's not that large. But I do know the spots where you can be with what wildlife is left in the park.

I suppose what disappoints me most is even on the most beautiful days there is never anyone in the park. Why don't schools walk over to the park and explore the parts of nature there to them? There are at least 6 schools within a ten minute walking distance to the park, 3 of which are practically in the park.

The kids at these schools are learning about many of the processes that are going on in the park with nature and wildlife and recreation. Why aren't the teachers bringing them into nature to figure some of these things out for themselves? Our world expects us to be so fast paced, its encouraged to use technology to get the answers faster. Its easier to just tell the kinds whats happening rather than bring them someplace where they can learn, and foster an understanding for themselves. Isn't that supposedly the role of a teacher? To facilitate learning?

The thing that makes me most disappointed is how this simply gets perpetuated later into our lives. Very few of us as children went out into nature and felt and understood what was happening. I have very few memories of going into nature as a young child in school. When it did happen we never really left the school property and were forced to use whatever "nature" we could find amidst our field of grass. As an adult if you want to go and study and be apart of nature, it only seems acceptable to do so if you're doing some form of research. If not, you're essentially branded an unsuccessful hippie.

And it's not as though people don't have an affinity to nature. As humans we love to look at natural scenes and generally be in nature once we're introduced to it. So how the heck do we get people to learn about the world and themselves through nature? I guess since nature is free, nobody will ever endorse it, so its a losing battle.