Sound of silence
I spent some time outside earlier in the week for about around 20 minutes. I spent that time walking around some of the more forested and green areas of campus. At first, I only saw trees and grass but near a small spot with a bench that look towards the street and my dorm building I saw a squirrel. I tried to take a picture realizing that there were 2 rock squirrels and not just one. I didn’t have a camera, so I tried to use my phone to get the photo, but I ended up scaring them off by mistake. I walked too close. There wasn’t much else around me, trees, grass, road, birds, and a couple of flowering plants. Yellow flowers (tulips, I think), looked like they were in a good place to grow, flowers were a vibrant yellow, leaves a smooth green. Couldn’t smell them because I am suffering through allergies of pollen. A little farther down the walk, I began to walk further into the forested or wooded area by my building, the area began to feel a little further from people, even though I could still hear the cars on the street down the hill. It was relaxing to feel somewhat isolated from other people, no stress from homework, no upcoming tests, no classes, no loud noises. I found a spot I might come back to later to set up a hammock, I got one over Christmas and I haven’t had a chance to set it up yet. After a little time I went back to my room since I had a lot of work to do, but it felt nice to reset after being stressed for so long.
After reading some of the stories from An Unspoken Hunger by Terry Tempest Williams, I came to realize something. A lot of people have an experience with nature, having a moment that ties them to part of Earth. Whether this is from having an experience that they hold dear when outside, someone close to them, or someone they admire, they have stories. I guess I should write a story of my own.
A few years back I was out on a camping trip with some people from a church group (Chi Alpha). We spent 3 days and two night out by Lake Mary with little access to electricity (some people charged devices in their cars and someone brought a solar powered Bluetooth speaker) and less access to internet. On the first night, a lot of the guys went out to the lake and it was one of the most surreal things I have seen. The moon was bright enough to make a reflection on the water, we could hear the elk or maybe deer. No one could see them as they were too far off. The whole area around the lake felt isolated, and untouched by people, even knowing the area had many camp spots and there was a highway in sight at the far end of the lake. I loved it. If there is anything I think a person should experience it is something like this, the feeling of absolute wilderness, being away from any sense of human civilization, and the beautiful quiet music of nature.
Word count (541)
















