Fall 2020 LOCALadk Magazine 55
LOCALadk
Muir's use of the phrase, "and I must go," has sudden-
ly taken on an entirely different sense of urgency. It is no
longer about not wanting to miss the opportunity to experi-
ence something grand. Being with nature is now a necessity
for our mental health. But what is fascinating is this devel-
opment simply happened. There was no meeting, no pub-
lic, grand announcement (although ads that simply say "GO
OUTSIDE! YOU'LL FEEL BET TER!" is something I whole-heart-
edly support). People just did it.
In a world where differences are so often the focus, nature
suddenly became our great unifier.
Muir is hardly the first person to write about our innate
desire to answer the call to be in nature, and he will certainly
not be the last. One of the most universal themes in writing
is the connection between man and nature, that tranquility
nature inherently provides us, particularly in times of dis-
tress. Wendell Berr y's poem, "The Peace of Wild Things," im-
mediately comes to mind:
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
