Internet, Nature and Us

One of the great things about the Internet is that instantaneously you can find out information that is in answer to the question asked.

I remember years ago, when asking my Mother, a teacher, how to spell something or where was this or that was in geography and she would say go check the dictionary or the encyclopedia. She was right to encourage me to find the answer on my own and in the process I would learn how to research or use the dictionary proficiently or some other academic or educational skill.

Today, I can type in a few words into the Google browser on my computer and in a moment, the answer is either there or stemming technology presents thousands of links for me to search for the appropriate answer.

All of this is wonderful and educational providing one has access to a computer and has the knowledge of how to use it, but in this post I’d like to mention another profound attribute of the Internet. It is the ability for any user to instantly see our world and our universe.

This attribute was not available when my Mother sent me to the encyclopedia. Sure, some photos were there, but not in full color or even recent photos and certainly not videos.

I have been a long time proponent of acknowledging nature as part of us. I believe that nature has a sentient component that links to our psyche and sends us messages that we are the nature we appreciate and too often abuse.

These messages come wrapped in the beauty we find everywhere in the flora and fauna -- if we choose to see it. The photos attached are evidence of my point.

Season’s Sonnet
© 2000 by Rolland G. Smith

As the seasons pass and each one blends in
From the one that departs, there’s a graceful
Tranquil moment for the new to begin
Emerging from a place invisible.
This enchanting change is expectancy.
A dawning time, neither a first nor last
Just new for seasons are a pregnancy.
A renewing, a birth, a soul recast.
So swaddle the seasons, hold them to see
Summer’s bright fall and the white winter’s spring.
Cradle the change in a sweet harmony
Of changes in song and the new they bring.
Seasons and blending, coming and going,
Blessings of nature ever bestowing.