I have always have a special place in my heart and mind for nature. As a child, my father spent many of his vacations hunting deer, caribou, bear and moose in either Canada or the United States mostly with his longtime friends or close family. I remember his jaunts late at night coming back from Vermont or New Hampshire and the excitement of learning if he or one of his friends would arrive with a monstrous white-tail buck or bull moose. Hunting has always been a part of my life as far as I can remember, and necessarily too, a profound respect for and love of nature. To this day I am mesmerized by the intricacies of the woods, the independence, the power and raw beauty that exists in so many parts of her. I have always found peace in her and a normalcy that can easily and rightfully be applied to our own sometimes confusing and existential human world. With God’s nature there is no confusion. Life is not just simplified here, it is made real, pure and true.
It has always been this way for me because my father introduced me to the wonder of the environment, the trickling streams where trout spawn, the deep woods of Canada where meandering black bears searched for food, on North Eastern farms where the beautiful White-tail deer live and breed. Nature was more than just something to look at. It was more than just a pretty postcard picture, it had an odor, a taste, possessed moisture, echoed loudly and moved with grace and ease. For me it was a love and a part of my life that continues to this day.
My father was a simple, yet complicated man. He had a remarkable ability to reflect and wonder, to ask questions especially about nature, this earth, why we are here and how all this fits into our own lives. As much as my father was a hard headed attorney with a reputation of no-nonsense savagery in the courtroom, he was a good and gentle man, a loving and forgiving soul. He was the bets man I have ever known. He, like my Mother, taught us to live as close to Christ’s life as possible. Moral and strict, he cut through the meddlesome confusion of ifs and buts with a sharp wit delivering no-nonsense responses to fool hardy questions. My father did not suffer fools lightly. He was always been a ‘rock’ standing for what he believed in despite the odds, much like his own father before him. If it wasn’t right he would say so. He was from the ‘old school.’ God, how we need more of that now.
As of late, life has not been easy for many of us here in my family and, I assume at times, has not been easy for a few of you who might be reading these words. We all go through tough times, but as of late, I can draw a clear parallel to a part of nature, which to some may seem foolish or funny, yet I find to be quite remarkable and good. To do this I ask you to bring to minds to a most formidable creature of the great Northern Tundra – the Muskox.
These mighty creatures can weigh nearly half a ton and, with their formidable horns and massive bodies, are quite imposing. While individually they are remarkably strong, it is not the individual creature that I refer to here, but their natural response when one of them is sick, injured or as a group are attacked. It is not the act of one bull or cow, but the actions of the herd that matter as each stands shoulder to shoulder creating a circular wall of muscle and bone held in place with all the brute strength, resolve and determination these mighty beasts can muster. Here the Muskox draw a clearly imposing boundary between themselves and that which they perceive as a threat. Together the bulls, cows and young simply refuse to budge on. They have made a decision and that decision is to stand together come what may.This instinct of self-defense and communal preservation has kept the Muskox alive throughout the centuries as hungry wolves and other predators lurked but a few yards away. It is this same instinct I found my family practicing when one of us, any of us, including myself, becomes sick or injured as we rush to protect each other and when truly tough times come. This is as natural and necessary for us as it is for the Muskox and, I am sure, for many of you. For as mammals our actions together are far more effective than our actions alone.
While some may consider this a strange comparison, I do not for there are many times I see nature as a very accurate and insightful reflection of ourselves. We are, in the end, a part of nature and while we may want to place our ‘civilized’ selves above it, we cannot, nor should we. This is nothing more than the arrogance of man. There is no room for arrogance if we, like the Muskox, are to survive. There is so much to learn from this wonderful world. If we are wise, we will always seek the similarities. In so doing we must also stand shoulder to shoulder together in defiance of our common enemies as this is nature, and us, at our best.
SGMJr
9/13/2014
