I'm promoting the Fourth Annual Norris Ingells Walk for Nature and here's one of the reasons why.
In church this morning, the priest asked the kids what was the most wonderful thing they'd ever seen in creation. (He had been referring to sunrises, etc.) Only one child answered and she said, "Disney World." He responded with respect and understanding, but it wasn't the answer he was looking for. He was trying to show how children see the world with fresh eyes, with excitement and delight. And of course they do that at Disney World, too. But what a commentary on our current life, that the most exciting, impressive thing is a copy of the inexpressibly wonderful creation we live within and are part of.
I also watched most of the National Parks series on PBS this past week. As usual, Ken Burns did a superb job of teaching, impressing, inspiring, encouraging. Friends, if our children lose their ability to fall in love with the natural world, to be curious about all that lies around them, near and far, we are doomed. I believe it is that serious.
So, of course I want people to go to the Walk because it's in honor of the man I love! But more than anything else, I want us to hand down the mantle of caring for this earth, so that our children and their children will love and cherish and preserve it. Others before us did this, often at great personal sacrifice. We must not drop this mantle.
Saturday, October 17, 2009 - 10-11 a.m. - Fenner Nature Center, 2020 E. Mt. Hope, Lansing. Register in advance at http://fenner.homestead.com/events/norris_ingells.html
My daughter and I plan to be there. But for us, it's "preaching to the choir", as we both love being outside with nature. :)
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