Grounding

I saw them on the roadside,

On that little stretch of grass

A couple, young and in love

Holding hands

Smiling

Touching the earth and soaking in the sun

I heard engines groan,

I inhaled exhaust and smog

Then I thought:

Lame

I wouldn’t be caught out like that

Pretending to enjoy the goddamned median

I like my nature raw

And real

Unfiltered

Full and in your face

I want deep woods and clear streams and hills where the contaminating touch of civilization just can’t be felt

But that couple, their little outing by the roadside?

Obscene

An insult

Did they feel they were getting outdoors?

Enjoying nature?

How can they claim to enjoy the earth, when they chose a spot so badly stricken with concrete?

How can they tell themselves they are communing with nature

When their surroundings are:

Rubber and tar

Particulates

Road dust

Traffic lights

Honking horns

No!

I told myself

That couple could do better

I told myself

That couple SHOULD do better

I shamed them

In my head

For their laziness

They could have gone to a park and chased God through the underbrush

They should have sought wilder places

Our ancestors would be stunned and dismayed

To see what we have become

A people of microplastics

Lounging by the roadside

Our ears all full

— not with the sound of running water—

But with the sounds of running traffic

And with the rumble and buzz of the modern world

With all its gritty, gray noise

I shook my head and like a miracle

I also cleared it

I realized

If anyone was the embarrassment,

That was me

That couple?

They were finding a moment of beauty even in a world of asphalt

And for all the hikes and sunsets I could boast from my past

The only reason I had seen this couple

Was because I was sitting on my ass

Driving right by in a goddamned, gas-guzzling county truck

Where I was groaning

And bemoaning

The industrial stink of our modern world

That smiling, sun-soaked couple was getting out and setting down upon the ground

Bare handed and bare footed

They were touching the earth, directly

What little of her they could

Grounding

And they were sharing that moment

Together

So how much of an outdoorsman could I be?

I mean really?

Aren’t they far more grounded than me

If I scoff at the grass on the median because I have seen the shoreline and the mountains?

Author’s note:

When I was a kid, we lived in a trailer in the woods in the southern tier of New York State.

Our plumbing was a length of hose, stuck into a spring on the hillside.

Our toilet was a roof over a hole in the ground outside.

Our heat came from wood fire.

Not a suitable home life for a young family with little kids, but as a kid myself I didn’t know better.

I loved wading in the stream, looking for critters, exploring the hills, and picking wild berries.

I’ve idealized this period of my life.

That in itself isn’t a problem, but the way I’ve held this ridiculous snobbery towards a “tainted” or lesser experience of the outdoors is silly.

Shame on me for scoffing at the little scraps of nature that pop up between our busy roads.

And extra shame on me for scoffing at the people who can still appreciate little moments of contact with the earth, like that couple seemed to be doing.

Peace everybody! Hope you can find some time to get outdoors, even if it’s “small”.