When we watch the stars at night, we often think to
ourselves…why on earth isn’t my cable working? No, that’s not what we think,
it’s merely what I think to myself. It’s not that I don’t appreciate nature,
don’t get me wrong. Some
of my best friends are animals.
But the fact of the matter is this:
I am far more comfortable surrounded by the man-made environments of
technology. Whether that technology is mostly electronic, as is the case with
iPads, iPhones, iShuffle, iPodPeople, etc. Or even if it’s basic technology
like non-candle lighting, comfortable bedding or even indoor plumbing. It’s not
so much the fact that it’s nature, it’s the fact that nature wants to kill you
even when it apparently doesn’t mean harm. Even the most innocuous looking
animals can cause some serious harm if you aren’t absolutely careful and on
your guard.
And why shouldn’t they? They’ve had
to find some way of surviving out in the wild, whether it be by out-fighting,
out-smarting or out-breeding their competition. But when we look to the wild
and to the natural order, we refuse to believe that is all we ultimately can
be. We try to save as many as we can. We seek to avoid unnecessary loss of
life, to cure disease, to understand and control the natural world. Because we
are and we are not a part of it.
But this is all a little too philosophical
and it’s not really going anywhere. So ultimately, I would just like to say: I
am proud of being a non-outdoorsman. I like being in a place where I can
control the environment. I like living
in a product of human ingenuity. I like being able to know that my environment as
it is now is a pinnacle of human evolution and mastery of the natural world. If
you want to say I don’t appreciate the natural world, go right ahead. I don’t.
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