Since returning to Colorado, I have spent a good deal of time wandering about our Littleton farm and observing the wildlife. As I have written in the past, nature offers an excellent diversion from the stress of this difficult period.
As children, we tend to pity wild creatures, missing out as they do on holidays and having to endure the brutal weather of winter. As adults, we sometimes envy them, free to go about their lives without worrying about finances or relationships and immune to the emotional burdens carried by human adults; overwhelmed by news related to Covid-19 and our dysfunctional government, we may be especially prone to those sentiments this summer.
Then again, our wild neighbors are focused solely on survival, instinctively aware of predators and driven to seek food during most of their waking hours. We humans, endowed with a large, complex brain, can appreciate those constraints but are still drawn to their outwardly carefree existence. In return, they offer some measure of tranquility.
As children, we tend to pity wild creatures, missing out as they do on holidays and having to endure the brutal weather of winter. As adults, we sometimes envy them, free to go about their lives without worrying about finances or relationships and immune to the emotional burdens carried by human adults; overwhelmed by news related to Covid-19 and our dysfunctional government, we may be especially prone to those sentiments this summer.
Then again, our wild neighbors are focused solely on survival, instinctively aware of predators and driven to seek food during most of their waking hours. We humans, endowed with a large, complex brain, can appreciate those constraints but are still drawn to their outwardly carefree existence. In return, they offer some measure of tranquility.
