A Walk in the Park

Hiking along the trail... many tiny violet blue butterflies dance on the ground, sucking moisture from the mud, created by the violent storms of the previous evening. The songs of many species of birds create a beautiful melody with the crickets. Flowers, jolted from their sleep, were alarmed by the deluge and the warm sun that forces the arched facade of a rainbow to appear. Spreading wide, flowers expose their inner self... nectar of bees and hummingbirds.

The stream, refreshed by torrents of rain, gurgled and laughed along its way, confined only by banks of tall grasses. The sun shone brightly on all things, but dark clouds hovering over distant mountains foretell the possibility of what may come later today.

Hiking up and over the short, but steep switchbacks one sees the beauty of such varied landscapes... of all things thriving in unison, singing a song of spring... of awakening. Two young women ask to have their picture taken. Standing together, the sun glances off golden and dark hair, framed by shrubs and enormous pines behind them. We part in laughter, with the joy of being in this park on such a glorious day.

Looping back, the slightly lower elevation is humid, but the breeze helps cool the face, flushed with the briskness of the walk. A woman screams out! With an alarming pitch, aimed at children. She belts out her lecture and I stop well above the stream, to view the scene below. She cannot stop and one realizes that fear has invaded the serenity and it tears at the heart and soul of Love.

The children probably saw the butterflies, or something that so captured their attention that the “Mother” no longer existed... and rightly so. Would the woman but just follow, she could discover with them, what they instinctively want to watch for awhile. Rather, she hurls her voice at them for their “disobedience”, which could easily be dissolved, if she truly understood children… and her own fear.

We “believe” we have seen it all, when we have seen but a few... no longer important or found to be unique and beautiful. We fear the things that “authority” tells us are bad or harmful. No screaming lecture is necessary; sadly, it was a missed opportunity for discovery, with a child in nature...

We free ourselves of fear with understanding… it need not be exacerbated. Didn’t this woman bring children to the park to enjoy nature? Or was she there for herself, the children being just an annoyance, and not allowed to explore? Whatever the reason, the children learned unfounded fear… of her, more than of the thing she herself feared.

All that is needed is to be engulfed by their enthusiasm for such wondrous things! During this time… quietly let them know of the rushing water... without fearful violence being injected into their brains. Hold them with their feet in the water, so they know its power. This way they learn respect… for her, as well as for the water, or other “dangers” the park may hold. Such harshness is unnecessary.

How can we change the way we act, and re-act? What will it take to realize how we behave towards loved ones, let alone "strangers"? This reaction is not love… it is fear. And fear is not born out of love. Most fear is unfounded and is a basic misunderstanding of the reality of the moment. It is contrived by a society detached from nature, and who learns of “life” and “truth” via TV… a medium which most often uses manipulation and fear, to keep one "riveted" and distracted... Weapons of Mass Distraction!

The answer is not found in TV, self-help books, religion, or politics. If these were sources that affect change... that gives us mental clarity and the ability to move in a direction other than the one we’ve been following... Surely we would have done so long, long ago!

What is needed for change, now? Not in some future where we “hope” someone or something, out there, will make it all better. It is here... now... this very moment that “change” must occur. Now is the only "time" that exists.

Enjoy a walk in the park with a child… as a child! For hope is not real and tomorrow never comes.