Personal Photo Challenge Week 3 ~ Nature Remains

Many years ago, as part of an early childhood education course, I prepared and gave a presentation on sharing nature with children. It changed my life. At the conclusion of the experience I had come to realize that a connection to nature is paramount (among other things) to good mental health. This discovery was revolutionary to me and I was bursting with importance. It slowly settled down into the core of who I am and what I believe in.

I also came away with the belief about our impact on our planet, which has been confirmed somewhat by documentaries which predict the continual evolution of the earth until it's demise at the hands of the sun going super nova long after humanity has died out. That belief is simply that nature will prevail over us. We will do what damage we do while we are here, and like the many calamities that befell and dismantled the known world before us, rocks and vegetation and life of many kinds will continue. We will be survived. (And this makes what we do, while we are here, all the more important because we have such a brief time to demonstrate our ability to be dignified and caring.)

I find myself thinking of these things again. I have some soul searching to do about the way I live my life and the lessons I am beginning to teach my son. In light of that, I thought it a perfect PPC theme to look for evidence that nature is prevailing, even on the smallest scale. I hope you agree.

After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on - have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear - what remains? Nature remains.
Walt Whitman