CSANews Issue 112

It’s Just a Walk in the Park
This is an idiom generally used to mean that something is really easy…but that’s not what I mean here, well maybe it is. What I really mean is that I want YOU to go for a walk in the park, with your significant other or your best friend.

Labour Day has come and gone and we are now in that magical time of year called fall, or perhaps autumn is a better word. We are before snow and after the sweltering heat in most of Canada this summer. As I say – that magical time when leaves change their colours, the kids and grandkids are back to school and the TV networks launch their new, mind-numbing programs. Are you ready?

I sometimes think that we have forgotten how to live. As kids and young adults, we frolicked in parks all the time. We searched the old forts for gold coins, strolled hand in hand with our partners-to-be and simply watched the world go by in its utter silence and beauty. But it was not really silent. If you took the time to listen (and we normally did), there were thousands of little sounds of nature all around us. A chipmunk rustling in the leaves, a sleeping owl snoring in the high branches, a tiny stream wending its way to the ocean and probably a baby rabbit silently watching us – mesmerized by our massive size and not yet old enough to fear us.

I am sure that all of the old gold coins are long gone, but the beauty and serenity of the park are still there. So, please make a couple of tuna or egg salad sandwiches (or peanut butter and jam if you are really going to relive your childhood), grab two bottles of water and head for your park. Many of us will have to drive there and that is OK; some of us will need a wheelchair and a little help, and that is OK, too. Then just get out and wander around. You are not here to exercise, or to power walk or to run a marathon; you are here because you belong here as part of nature. After a while, you could find a park bench to sit on and have your snack – and listen to the world around you. You will have found a much better world than the humdrum monotonies and stresses of everyday life. And don’t forget to look up and see all of the beautiful leaves about to fall.

What I would like you to do is “a piece of cake” – take one with you if you like.

Sincerely,
Ross