“The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.”
― Anne Frank
Nature has always been giving. Apart from beautifully balanced, it gives a pleasure of solitude. We have been hearing about the nature being the perfect piece of art by God. Humans have been the most dominant animal on the globe so far. Like all organisms, humans are also totally dependent on the nature for their survival. However, humans are the only living beings who can change their environment to suit their needs. But, in the process, have upset the nature balance. Human nature itself is very self-centered. This being so we augment the natural surroundings to suit our needs. So anywhere you find people and technology, you will be able to find how we have changed / destroyed nature. We hurt the environment in more ways than you could possibly imagine. Misguided construction, irrigation and mining can deface the natural landscape and disrupt important ecological processes. Greed can lead to catastrophic accidents and laziness to environmentally destructive practices.
The most recent example is the wrath showered by nature itself upon Kedarnath. Let me show you how Kedarnath used to be nearly a century and a half ago.
This used to be the old Kedarnath Temple in Garhwal Himalayas in the year 1882. Temples are considered to be a place where we search for solace in ourselves. We could debate a lot on the authenticity of these temple being made here due to the mythological stories and reason with respect to these places. It could be true or false as per ones belief. But the placement of the temples at heights, midst the beautiful valleys and mountains and trees and flowing water are due to the fact that we tend to find peace here. The silent beauty of nature makes us believe in the most powerful artist, magician, creator or any name we could call with, GOD.
But, alas as i would call it, people converted it into a business hub. Humans by nature has been very inquisitive in finding opportunities in anything and everything. The reason of having a temple in the first place changes to an attraction point to commercialize an area. People rather being atheist became more of superstitious which led to another group of people to take advantage of the weakness of the prior. To accommodate more and more of the greed inside the human brain, they slit open the nature.
Here’s what Kedarnath was turned into by humans to quench the thirst of greed.
But, the history has been witness that when humans tend to disturb the balance of nature, it makes sure to set it back to normal by its own. If we believe that the whole universe is created by a super power and that it and only it can create another, we should not forget that it has the power to revoke everything that we humans destroy. Anyone who has been paying attention will note that large-scale nature-related disasters are increasing. Every few weeks it seems, Earth unleashes devastating violence of some sort or other. An earthquake, a tornado, a tsunami, a massive storm, a flood, a drought, a rash of wildfires. It levels property, destroys homes, decimate crops, claims lives. And another constellation of survivors are left breathless in its wake, tasked with trying to piece their shattered lives back together. It is a dreadful reminder of an awesome and important reality. The reality that nature will not allow us to mess with it.
It’s only when nature gets really nasty, when rains turn to floods, when snows stop our planes, when droughts demand water restrictions, when a temblor topples infrastructure, that we even think to acknowledge the power it still holds over us. It dwarfs us. Impressive as man’s skills to build skyscrapers is, it remains awkwardly vulnerable to the sheer elemental power of the planet in its fury. History shows, in fact, that whole societies have risen or fallen because of favorable or foul forces of nature. And in recent times, violent outbursts of those forces have been speeding up in tempo.
Nature makes sure its put back to its original shape however humans might try to change it for their own needs and greeds. Have look at Kedarnath after the wrath of nature on it.
We need to be concerned!
We have lost sight of the fact that our very existence depends on nature. Take rain. To the average city-dweller, rain has little bearing on day-to-day life; in fact, it’s often an inconvenience. But to the farmer, rain is life. It nourishes his crops and the pastures on which his herds graze. The farmer sees nature, and all its component parts, for what it ultimately is: the complex, interconnected, vitally important machine that sustains life.
What is wrong with the weather? You have to have blinders on not to at least be asking the question. Why are these once-in-a-lifetime, where-did-this-come-from, never-before-witnessed calamities piling up on top of one another?
Such catastrophes should in fact challenge our thinking. They force us to contemplate the fragility of man. They demand that we consider some of the deeper questions we can all-too-easily ignore in more prosperous and peaceful times.
More and more people today, however, are quite removed from nature. Living in cities and in suburbs, we see nature as Animal Planet, or the dog barking across the street, or the lone tree along the sidewalk that gets in the way.
Nature is recreation,a grassy field to play on, a lake to stroll by, an ocean to see our depths and mountains to find our heights, a place for co-existence, something beautiful to admire, a place to go for serenity. Lets not destroy it for our own good.
I would like to end this with a poem “Daffodils” by William Wordsworth, a poet who has always beautifully portrayed the elegance of nature and how its been his teacher to lead his life.
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.The waves beside them danced; but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
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