Beavers
I heard a report on the radio the other morning. There is an unusual area near the forests and lands of last year’s Colorado wild fires. Most of the area is devastated and contains trees that look like burnt match sticks but there is an area that the fire didn’t touch.
What made it fire proof were the wetlands and river beds created by the beaver community. Beavers are nature’s architects. They create ponds, streams even reshape the marshy lands. In doing “what comes naturally”, that for which they are created, it benefits all around.
Of course, for generations beavers were not appreciated. Over hunting almost wiped them out. (Well, perhaps they were appreciated too much- not for their living attributes but for their warm pelts.) They were considered pests and prevented “progress”. The beavers’ management of stream beds and rivers interfered with how man wanted to manage the same area.
The beaver story made me think of a news article I read many years ago about constructed wetlands: artificially creating marshes and wetlands to treat waste water. By using what nature has already designed to do, we are able to replicate that on a larger scale for our benefit both health-wise and environmentally-wise.
Many years ago my mom predicted that all that we need to solve our world problems were provided by God through the natural world. God gave us brains and curiosity to figure things out. She thought many treatments for diseases would be found naturally and even uncovered/discovered through traditional methods from indigenous people. In some ways that is so. For instance, there is a Brazilian viper snake whose venom proved vital in the development of the blood pressure drug captopril. Apparently about 70 percent of current cancer drugs are either natural products or derived from natural compounds, and the world’s largest rain forest is a great cauldron of biodiversity that has already produced medicine for diseases such as malaria.
In some ways it is a shame when nature or traditional means are dismissed from the “how we solve modern problems/situations” equation. There is a pridefulness in thinking we are too “modern” or sophisticated and that we have all the knowledge necessary to solve our dilemmas. We are short-sighted not to entertain all possibilities in our quest for understanding.
Yet, I wonder how much do I think I am so modern or sophisticated? I am thinking of ideas/people/procedures that I may have dismissed and not appreciated for the natural talents or abilities they brought to the discussion. How much have I been short-sighted in my understanding of others?
Lately the posture of humility has been foremost in my mind: the more I know, the less I know. I am trying to welcome each day with humility and curiosity: what will I learn today from others or from some knowledge base that I didn’t know yesterday?
What about you? What natural gifts or talents do you have? Are they appreciated? By you? By others? Have you ever learned something from a more traditional/natural method? What was it?
There is an old song, It’s Hard to be Humble, by Mac Davis. Part of the chorus: “Oh, Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way.” We may laugh at such audacity but there is some truth to how we think. Perhaps we need to think of the lowly beaver and how much they can teach us.
Before destruction a man's heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. Proverbs 18:12
What I Learned on my Summer Vacation
- Take time to enjoy experiences and people. I was so struck with the non-hurried lifestyle of vacation. Not just our experience but the lifestyle we witnessed of those around us. Of course, I am sure that there were plenty of locals who rushed about and felt that they were rushing but the atmosphere did not feel frenetic. I liked the pace we set while on vacation but I don't know how we can transpose that feeing now that we are home. I am trying to set more wiggle room in my calendar- prepare for interruptions, plan ahead for activities as well as plan fewer amount of items to do in a time period. I am trying to enjoy the moments.
- Eliminate the clutter. The apartment we rented in Vienna was very modern. It wasn't spartan or minimalist but it certainly didn't have any extra frills and thrills. It was refreshing. It made me think about our home and all of its stuff. Since we have returned, both my husband and I are in the process of decluttering. I had mentioned once before that my goal is to eliminate 1/4 of items/stuff in each of our rooms. I am getting there.
- Just because things have always been a certain way, doesn't mean it has to be that way. I think sometimes we get so caught up in doing activities because that is how we have always done them. Not that what we were doing might be wrong, but we never allow ourselves to experience something that might be different and possibly better. I noticed this with European meals, especially breakfast. When we landed in Italy via Air Berlin, our morning airplane "breakfast" was a sandwich. At first I couldn't stomach it. We had been up all night flying and had had dinner in the air. According to our flight times it was 2am EST but with the time zones, we were 8am in Dusseldorf. According to our airlines, it was time for breakfast. And according to our son who lived in Vienna for four months, breakfast might consist of what we think as "lunch" food. We noticed more meats at breakfast in Florence, Rome and Vienna. Actually when I finally ate the sandwich, (waiting for our connection to Rome) it was rather tasty. Reminds me that I don't have to fit into societal norms of what is "done".
- It takes just as much effort to dress nicely as to dress sloppily. Now that we are back in the states, it is hard to pinpoint what exactly was the clothing difference between the European dresser and his American counterpart. (baseball caps? logo and messaging t-shirts? sneakers? ) The people walking about in Rome, Florence and Vienna seemed so much more well dressed and more put together. They appeared to be more civilized and respectful of others. (not that clothes are that important, but sometimes clothes doth make a man) My husband and I noticed the difference this past weekend when we attended a local street festival in our home town. In the middle of the crowded street I stopped and thought, "We were at some festivals in Vienna and this looks so different." It wasn't until then, that it dawned on me that the attendees' clothing was what made it seem different. At this weekend's festival, people seemed so sloppy in dress, in speech and in behavior.
- Be a sponge. As always when we travel I realize what an ignorant rube I am. I have so many things that I want to learn, to explore, to do. Travel opens up curiosity. It provides a different way to look at the current experience but I think it also opens up a new way to view the familiar.
What about you? Learn anything this summer? Have you made any changes to your lifestyle? Do you want to make any changes? How can you take lessons learned or observed and put them into practice?
What did you learn on our summer vacation?