Which role does wilderness play in my life?
It 's wrong to say that wilderness played such an important role just like the Native Alaskans, but it definitely was part of my life. Back when I was in High School, I lived between the Caribbean Coast and a mountain chain. When I would wake up early, I was able to enjoy such a close and clear view of these mountains. They were a lot closer that anyone could imagine. Filled with shades of green and few sign of waterfalls, this sight is what gave me ease and allowed me to look at things with optimism. However, when the days were cloudy well that was another story. During the weekends I was able to go up the mountains to the Cangrejal River or go and walk on the beach with my father. He and his friends are what introduced me to beauty and the feelings that involve wilderness. For me wilderness is a place where I am to unravel myself and just think and speak to myself without editing anything. It's society that has set boundaries to what we should say, do, or believe. It is in nature where despite what you believe, think, feel, or do, it is still there and still forgives us even if we do not deserve forgiveness. The role wilderness plays in my life is freedom, freedom from regulations, from reality, from society, where you can live in it and sustain yourself if you give in to your instincts. It is where you can expand your imagination and create a world where you can live in harmony with your surroundings. Not a place where you have to keep on top of what is in style or not, who you should be friends with or not...etc. Long time ago, we were raised in wilderness, we were able to hunt and gather food, and build a shelter that has all the luxuries you need to live—a roof and protection from dangerous creatures. Wilderness provided food and water. She(wilderness)— because she nurtures us like a mother to a child—gave us the most important thing to live besides oxygen, she gave us freedom to do what we please. Being in New Orleans, limited me to the sight of mountains but exposed me to new forms of wilderness. The modified wilderness within Audubon park still lets me enjoy from the ease my home used to give me. Visiting wetlands also allowed be to see the diversity within their community. I can't see myself living without the sight of mountains, trees, and their friends that inhabit them. The dullness of concrete, and glass, and modern structures will make feel trapped. There will be an unease with society and no freedom from the strict society developing during the years. It was about time people began to acknowledge the delicacy of nature and how we need to preserve it. Wilderness does represent freedom and it is important to expose everyone to her because people are forgetting where they come from.
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I really like your simile "wilderness=freedom." After I read your post, I thought about it, and though I still slightly differentiate between wilderness and wildness (if there is any difference at all, that's arguable), I totally agree with you that wilderness means " freedom from regulations, from reality, from society." However, I would replace 'reality' with 'everyday life' as wilderness IS reality, but a form or a part of reality we tend to forget or to lose.
ReplyDeleteTalking about freedeom, I also had to think of Nash who says that (the concept of) wilderness contributes to "a heightened appreciation of the meaning and importance of restraint" (299). At first look, this seems to be contradictory to what you say, but I think it is not. The way you deal with wilderness does not impose it - or her as you say - anything. Maybe it can be argued like this: We do not only (hopefully) restrain ourselves, but we are also restrained by nature (no comfortable warm shower, no electricity etc.). Because of this, nature gives us the chance to concentrate on and consider things which are completely different, find the time and quietude for solutions, see where we come from, admire nature by not being completely exluded. And so we experience a kind of freedom we would never learn in our society.