Nature, animals and little children
A couple of months ago I was privileged enough to spend a whole week at my brother’s farm in a far-away place in the Sourthern part of Estonia - among forests and rivers, endless snow and freezing wind. I was accompanied by a four-year-old, a dog, a cat, five Scottish highlanders and two parrots - one light green and one turqoise blue. What a colourful company it was.
When I first heard of the offer I imagined myself switching off completely and doing lots of nothing for the whole seven days. I even thought I would have time to meditate. How silly of me! Did I mention that my main conversational partner was a soon-to-be 4-year-old, a witty and self-willed niece to whom I was appointed as an assistant in household assignments during her parents’ get-away-trip. My holiday turned out to be a whole different story from what I had planned.
But as the old folks used to say: “Life’s what happens while you’re making plans”. That’s why waking up at 6.30 am, making breakfast at 7, going to kindergarten at 8 and reading bedtime stories before sleep didn’t break me. Vice Versa, I got to experience a bunch of new and unfamiliar emotions (since I don’t have children myself).
One of the grandest discoveries was that I really enjoy living side by side with nature. I do have to admit that I’m strongly attached to the human society and although I was cut from the world wide web, a local radio station still filled my need for background noise. Even though I didn’t feel the pressure to cut myself completely off there was still a whole world full of silence surrounding me. It is an experience itself waking up when the sun rises and going to bed once it has set.
This week gave me a lot to think about. I realised that I am at a point in my life where I’m drawing a line between the necessary and the unnecessary, the real and the not-so-real. I understand that the society created by people is irreplaceable. It is a natural progress in the journey towards raising our living standards. But for some sad reason we, people, tend to exaggerate with many things - possibilities, necessities and resources. The present economic crisis is even too primitive as an example about over-demanding and over-offering, but it is also an obvious one. It seems like the whole society is looking for new alternatives and is re-evaluating its actual needs. Thus is drawing the same kind of line as I am.
In order to know where to draw that line it is extremely useful to spend a week among nature, animals and a child. For them that line is undoubtedly distinct. It is us, the grown-up children, who tend to mess up the heads of the little ones. But until they reach the age when they become fluent in self-destruction and self-deception, they are as untouched and wise as nature and animals. If only their parents didn’t fill their little drawers with the dirty socks of the grown-up society without even noticing it.
How much do we really need the noise and flood of information? For whom do we really wake up and make breakfast for each morning? Where is the line drawn between comfort turning into an addiction and necessity turning into a burden?
Ask nature, animals and little children.
Recent posts by this author
- You are what you eat - December 2nd, 2009
- What Can I Do? - June 12th, 2009
- Slow in joy and sorrow - May 19th, 2009
- Slow work - it's easy, but not simple - February 18th, 2009
- Slow in the periphery - January 24th, 2009
