Relationship With the Earth

My childhood contained a lot of time outdoors. I was a Boy Scout you see. I was out camping at least once a month, if not more just for the pure pleasure of it. I've been to very urbanized campsites where people bring out their TV and their dish so they can watch the big game. But at the same time I've been to places like the Boundary Waters where very few things have been touched by man. Its given me a more in touch sense with nature then I figured I would end up having.

When you go to these places you're taught to "leave no trail". Make sure where you've been is unharmed or better off then when you got there. For years I did this with my peers. At the time I just thought it was something you were taught so the next person to roam through didn't have to deal with your belongings. But the older I got, and still am getting, the more I realized that its more than just that. Its leaving the place intact for other people years down the road.

Every month I went out and we'd have our fun. Spend a weekend away from everything. Worry about nothing but the very essential things. There's a lot less to care about and there's a freedom that you don't get in the city. But that feeling can only be intact by the way we shape this environment.

Every time I go out into the country, or more wild an area that the city, I can't help but think about the things I learned when I was younger. Leave no trail. This sense of helping the area gives me a more honed in sense of the logistics of the land. The birds, the animals, the overall surrounding. When you keep the land in pristine condition these things are more noticeable in the area around you.

I guess the environment has shaped me in the same way I hope I'm shaping it. For every time I get to go out into the woods I get to experience another day in what nature intended. A beautiful landscape that makes one think of a time much simpler and less harmed by the people have most shaped it.