Beauty brings balance

What a beautiful and extraordinary country we live in. I had time to reflect on it one early summer, while biking through the cool, green of a native Ontario bush.  My senses could discern the rapidly changing temperature and humidity fluctuations, the pungent mossy moisture and sweet familiar fragrance of some flora who's identity is still hidden in the hard drive of what occasionally is still a sharp and witty mind.  With all the required time our busy lives demand - needing to get the task at hand completed, or to the next project or appointment, a lot of us have become disconnected with the details of the scenery surrounding us.  Our eyes glance quickly over the big picture and hurry on.  Too bad. So sad.  Children see things so differently though.  They take great interest in the details of the flower, or toad, or face.  And if we adults keep our comments to ourselves, our children often see the beauty in what interests them.  We need to encourage that.  We need to teach them to appreciate and see the beautiful world that lies beyond the technological world they are being sucked into.  We all need that balance.  Beauty brings balance through nature.  I've been fortunate to have been born with a love and respect for nature.  I've lived half my life in big cities, like Montreal, London and Windsor, and the other half in the country side.  I love them both for the different things they have to offer.  One is totally "man" made and the other - well "man" just tries to get along as best he can.  Nature will not be discounted.  We need to place the beauty of what nature offers back into our streets, villages, towns and cities.  All that concrete makes it hard to breathe.  It feels like a prison - or that playground at my all-girls Catholic grade school in Montreal.  I have no fond memories of that time.  Ugliness does nothing to contribute to one's well being.  Life's too short to be living in it.  Do your part.  Beautify!