Out for a Walk

 

I just felt like taking a walk today, even though it is only a mental excursion, I need it.  I started at the edge of the woods, not sure why, just thought nature would be a refreshing change from streets and building and so-called progress.  It was a little cool starting out but I knew it would warm up during the day. 

It isn’t all that thick and overgrown right here, so walking isn’t a chore.  I did just step over a downed tree.  That got me to thinking about the ants crawling over and around the bark.  I wondered if they knew they were no longer traveling up and down, but now simply horizontal.  From their vantage point it must all look the same. 

I don’t even think about it when walking through the city.  When I encounter a downed building, I simply walk along the construction fence that has been put up to keep people out.  There are no fences around this tree, just more woods surrounding it on all sides.  Off in the distance I can hear a woodpecker working hard for his breakfast. 

I’ve had some jobs like that, beating my head against the wall just to make enough to keep food on the table.  Seeing it from the woodpecker’s view, the trees are his pantry and Man is the creature who doesn’t see it as a food locker, but just as something to cut down and haul away.  Two very different creatures on the planet, each seeing the world differently. 

That isn’t so much good and evil, but it made me think like that for a moment.  Often it becomes very difficult to see evil.  The woodpecker might see humans as evil, and yet we are seeing the woods as a resource.  Some in the city may see the corner bank as a pantry for their money, while those less honest might view it as a resource. Just one more thing to rob.

Being deeper into the woods I notice more the varying spots of light and shadow, as the Sun struggles to keep up with my journey.  The sounds too are not the same as when I began.  Birds, of course, singing and chirping here and there, but also the sounds of scampering.  The leaves on the ground announce the movement of squirrels and other animals as they make their way to wherever. 

It’s the same in the city, but instead of crunching leaves there are car horns and noisy garbage trucks.  No one stays put, for whatever reason they need to get over there, and now across to that side.  Obviously, it is no different here between the trees.  

I guess if there weren’t any noises it would seem quite eerie.  The same as walking downtown early Sunday morning.  Not a soul on the street, no traffic, just maybe the sound of your own steps echoing off the buildings. That is usually enough to trigger the imagination and elevate our senses.  Are we really alone out here, or am I being watched?

Okay, I going to turn around here, before I get too far along and start imagining some massive woodpecker waiting just behind those trees, ready to get the evil human.

 

 

 zc