I was lucky enough to discover a treasure of a campsite this past August long weekend. Now I would give away the location if only it wasn't so sweet and this ever smaller world wasn't so damn full of people to ruin something so beautiful. While I was literally in the middle of nowhere which meant no running water, washrooms or such I realized a few things.
First I am a huge chicken now and I am completely unaware in the wild. When the sun went down I couldn't go more than 20 feet from the campfire because I could swear something was lurking in the dark waiting to attack me. I was terrified of nature! Now this is a girl who has lived in a town that had no street lights and the possibility of a bear crossing your path was a reality. I remember this time fondly actually, it was a time when I would marvel at the thousands of stars above me as I walked home from a late night of work. How the city lights and noise has changed me. I miss the quiet and the noises of the night like crickets and such. Instead I have the 99 bus route screaming down my ever busy street and people hooting and hollering at two in the morning.
I also found out in a painfully difficult way that some people still don't get it; that you treat your environment with care. I couldn't believe that my friends would just toss garbage in the lake, throw their cigarettes in the woods, or put plastics into the fire?! Now in all fairness not everyone was doing this, and some were great and basically attempted to scold the clueless in the nicest, politically correct way. Still in this day and age when the environment is such a hot topic, why are some not getting the message?
To sum up what surprised me the most was how beautiful our surroundings were and how little we actually appreciated it on a whole. Sure everyone took pictures and commented on how great the view was, but did they take care to watch their impact on the site? Did we truly do our best to make sure nothing was left behind? How can we continue to do this and expect anything to change or better yet stay the way we remember them?
1 comment:
Great article Brandy
I too am amazed by the attitudes of people. People just don't have that bond with nature. I am very happy I do.
I have a lot of trouble with people who disrespect the nature and it becomes utterly uncomfortable for me to just sit and watch them violate every principle I believe in and say nothing.
And if you say something, you might offend them and even lose them as friends. However my principles are dear to me and I almost always do speak up in a nice way. If people get offended, then be it. They were not meant to be my friends. Sure, I have lost few so called friends this way, but hey, they were not meant to be my friends to begin with. There's tons of better friends you can make
Keep on having the right attitude
P.S One good way to solve this problem is to go and pick up the garbage they threw out, making sure others and the culprit see you. This is powerful, because people will ask you why you;re doing that and then you can simply say that you can't stand to see being nature trashed that way. That's it, nothing more need to be said - everyone will silently agree and the culprit will feel very stupid and ponder their actions
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