Sometimes, being simple seems so difficult. And yet, we begin life in simplicity, in a garden of discovery where nature is our friend and guide. With its generous bounty, nature ensures wonderment lights up our simplicity — we thus gasp in delight when we sight a tiny seasonal bird’s flamboyant beauty. Watch in amazement a marching row of ants, purposeful and orderly. Gaze, fascinated, at the iridescent wings of a butterfly shining on a bud. Learn to hear the croak of a frog before rain, the hum of a busy bee, the murmuring of leaves on a swaying tree.
It is in nature that we discover multiple forms of life — and learn how we humans can live in harmony with them. But it is this simple discovery that we lose as our lives grow more complex. As we step away from childhood — and from nature — we develop a distance from such fundamental learning and joy. A vacuum develops within us and we seek increasingly complicated fulfilments for it. We find ourselves consuming voraciously, travelling frenetically, pursuing goods and experiences which even involve the destruction of our childhood friend — nature.
Yet, in the world’s current situation, an important chance is being held out to us. To rediscover a childlike simplicity, centred around respecting nature, its boundaries and its diversity. There is no greater truth today than the fact that we need to create a new world, determined not by greed but by sustainability and simplicity. We must utilise this breach to emerge more akin to our childhood selves, for whom a walk on a hill was a vibrant thrill, a voyage into a whole new universe of flowers and plants.
There is nothing naïve in celebrating, or emulating, a child’s bond with nature. It is far wiser than, in mistaken ‘maturity’, to wreck ecosystems, pollute habitats, plunder Earth’s species, rampage its reserves — and destroy the only home we will ever have. Times Evoke’s global experts thereby present vignettes of nature and its wondrous relationship with children. We hope this will help you recall your own inner child. And envision the world anew, for other children.
Matter referenced:
Times of India, Ahmedabad, Saturday, 2nd May, 2020.
By: Dr. Bhawana Asnani.
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