I recently read an article on CNN by Madison Park about a group of teens that threw a bunch of fireworks into a canyon and started a forest fire in Oregon. Although this is horrific in and of itself, the main thing that bothered me about this article is that they didn’t care. As soon as a fellow hiker told them to do something about the smoke that was rising from the forest below, the kids ran. They were followed, but showed no signs of repentance — just the thrill of the chase followed by boredom. Why do these young people not care about burning thousands of acres of Oregon wilderness or the lives of other hikers, campers, and firefighters that they put at risk?
At the risk of making a gross generalization, there seems to be a mentality of apathy towards nature among teens and twenty-year-olds in America. Many people would say that this is because, as kids, they need to be forced to “get off their darn phones and go play outside.” However, technology is not the real problem. While limiting phone time has some benefits, it is more important for parents to show their children the value of silence and stillness. This ethic is so absent in our society, which values busyness — movement, noise, productivity, progress, etc. To sit still means you are slacking. To be silent is to be dumb. If you cared about your opinions, you would at least post something on Facebook about them.
When the busyness of our workdays and school days ends, many people turn to the busyness of social media and television. While sitting on the couch and scrolling or channel surfing may not seem like busyness, it is busy in the sense that your brain is constantly receiving a whole slew of fast-paced information for it to process in some partial fashion before moving to the next channel or app, giving the illusion of mental productivity. While there is a time and a place for unwinding via technology, there is also a time and place to cultivate the habit of stillness and silence, a habit that many children have grown up witwhout.
What does this habit look like? Taking time to move away from the desire to be productive or the cheap thrill of mass media. Sitting at the dinner table a few minutes after supper, thinking back on the day. Standing on the porch to watch the sunset. Lying on the lawn next to your dog.
Why do these things make people more loving of nature? And, perhaps, more loving in general? Empathy needs time and space to grow. Nature requires those who wish to engage it to take in all of its minute details, which requires attention. Attention: to be silent and still. If you are too focused on your own busyness, you cannot take the time to notice others. If you are too accustomed to consuming sensory data that is “busy,” you will never learn to find nature exciting unless you are throwing fireworks into it.
