English 105
At a very early age, my parents instilled in me an interest and appreciation for all things in nature. They took my sisters and me camping, stargazing, hiking, and fishing as soon as possible. Our house has never lacked guidebooks on birds, flowers, rocks, plants, or insects. Whenever I am out in nature, I find that I’m always trying to take in as much of what’s going on around me as possible. I even do this when walking to and from class. I’ll hear or see a bird in a tree I’m walking past and either identify it right away or wish I had a bird book in my room to consult when I got home. Walking in the woods in one of Ames’ wonderful parks, I look at the plants around me, usually making sure that I’m not brushing up against anything poisonous and always trying to recall the names that I learned once upon a time.
Winter is my favorite season, although the other three come very close. Spring, summer, and fall all have beautiful plants, flowers, birds, small animals, and the weather is usually more agreeable. It’s hard to beat a dizzying yet peaceful snowfall that blankets the ground and makes everything it covers clean and sparklingly beautiful, though. It calms me, especially if I’m really stressed. Even days after the snowfall, the sight of the pure white snow brightens my spirit. Despite what many people might think, winter is very alive. In addition to the crows that sit outside my window and keep me up at night with their cawing, I have seen rabbits, squirrels, and finches. Every day, in the short walk from my dorm to the dining center for lunch, I see at least two rabbits just off the sidewalk and often hear or see a finch in the tree just across the street. And on the occasion when there won’t be any obvious signs of life, there are animal tracks all over the snow.
I often give little thought to trees and other plants during the winter season because they really aren’t doing much and don’t have many identifiable features. One time I do give special attention to the various forms of vegetation surrounding me is an early foggy morning. The fog that comes into contact with the trees and bushes freezes to them, coating them with hoarfrost that sparkles in the morning sun before it gets high enough in the sky to melt it off. Trees covered with snow and ice have the same effect.
A stark contrast to this is my observations while watching TV. I usually watch TV for entertainment. I want to feel happy and laugh, sad and cry, or put myself in the main character’s place to feel like I’m in love. More often than not, it evokes feelings and emotions than thoughts and wonderments. If my mind asks a question, it is usually about the actor or actress I’m watching. “Does he have a family?” “I wonder what he’s really like.” “Does she do her own grocery shopping?” I will also sometimes try to figure out what else I’ve seen a certain actor in, or try to remember his name.
This is not to say that TV can’t and isn’t ever thought provoking. Game shows such as “Jeopardy” and “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” ask us questions and, being human, we try to figure out the answers. News magazine shows cause us to ponder the society in which we live. And occasionally, a drama or even a sitcom will bring to light a serious subject that we then figure out on which side we stand. Unfortunately, these shows seem few and far between. So many programs on TV these days are artificial and designed for us to watch numbly to “give our minds a break.” This can be a good thing, but too much of it and our minds don’t work as well as they should. They can get out of practice. As I see it, this is the biggest difference between watching nature and watching TV.
In April 2000, I went with my youth group on a weeklong trip to the Colorado Springs, CO, area. A week without any TV at all, we simply enjoyed the sights and sounds of God’s creation. From the howling wind whipping sand in our faces at the Great Sand Dunes to the light snow falling around us as we ascended Pike’s Peak to the burning sun on our tired bodies at the Garden of the Gods, I thoroughly enjoyed it all. I had only been to Colorado once before when my family was driving through on our way to San Francisco, so everything was new to me. My mind tried to take it all in—the sand beneath my feet, crackling campfire, columbine flowers, Pike’s Peak granite, mountain streams, roadrunners, tumbleweed, oddly shaped red rock spires--but didn’t even come close. By the drive home, my mind was as far from being tired as I can ever remember it being. I was in awe of the endless objects God is capable of creating and allowing us to enjoy.
For about a week after that trip, I couldn’t watch TV. It was boring in comparison to everything I had seen and experienced the week before. Out of sheer habit I turned on the TV when I got home. Several times I asked myself the question, “how did I used to watch this?” before I finally turned it off. After several days of that, my mind slowly began to accept and enjoy watching television programs again.
Nature is not the only medium that causes this reaction to TV for me. It is, however, the most common. The second most common is Cornerstone Music Festival, which I’ve gone to every summer for the past four years. Once again, there is no TV the whole week, as well as no flush toilets, air conditioning, or real beds to sleep in. There, instead of being stimulated by the nature around me, my mind is stimulated by song lyrics, seminars, and encounters and friendships with people I’ve never met before and will probably never meet after. The lack of brainpower involved in watching many of the shows on TV when I get back is a shock to my system that I can’t stand and I have to slowly work TV back into my daily life. Had I not gone on these “TV-less” trips, would I remember anything about the programs I would have watched? No. Do I remember anything about the experiences on these trips? Absolutely, and I wouldn’t trade the memories and gained knowledge for the best movie I’ve ever seen.
Given a choice, I would choose to take a walk outside and enjoy nature over staying cooped up inside watching some program on TV that utilizes only a small portion of my brainpower. Unfortunately, school and family responsibilities often keep me inside and if I’m inside, I’ve usually got the TV on. The more TV I watch, the lazier I am; the more walks I take, the more energy I have. Some days the laziness is warranted; however, most days it is not. Both TV and nature can challenge my mind and make me ask questions, but it seems everything in nature has that effect on me, while I have to search the TV to find such stimulus. Television is good for entertaining my mind. The images and events usually stick with me for a day or two and may change my mood for the day. Nature is good for waking up my mind. The images and events stick with me for the rest of my life and may change my outlook on life as a whole.