I just read a recent article in the Missoula Independent titled '
Leave No Child Inside' which reports on what's being called nature-deficit disorder, and it really strikes a chord with me. Our kids are losing touch with the natural world at an alarming rate. They spend less than half the time in direct contact with nature on average than kids did even 20 years ago. Whether you want to call this a disorder or not, and I'm uneasy about that because it seems like every time we label something a 'disorder' someone develops and markets a drug that supposedly makes it all better, this lack of contact and lack of connection to our natural habitat can only be detrimental to a kid. Sure, there are a lot of websites to teach kids about nature, and there are several shows on cable and satellite TV, and there are countless publications and books with fine articles and photographs that provide a glimpse of wildness, but they're not the real deal. It's much like going into a restaurant and studying the pictures of the items on the menu but not eating any of them. You may be able to memorize them all, but unless you actually partake you still leave hungry. You can't eat a picture.
I've said it before, but I was very lucky growing up. I spent a great deal of time living with my grandparents in the wilds of northern Minnesota. It wasn't what we now call wilderness, there was no Wilderness Act in place yet and the area certainly wasn't pristine and untouched, but back in the 50's and early 60's it was still quite remote. My days were spent outdoors. I'd wake up in the morning and out the door I'd go, and except for coming in to grab an occasional bite to eat I stayed there until it got too dark to see. Sometimes I didn't even come in then.
I was a busy kid. My time was spent swimming in the lake or catching a few fish for dinner (my grandparents had little money -- we ate wild much of the time) or picking wild berries with my grandpa or roaming the woods talking to bears or moose. I grew up around bears, and never even knew they could be dangerous until someone told in school. Most of the time I ran barefoot. My feet were as tough as truck tires and I could walk on anything. Not like now, when even walking on bread crumbs barefoot feels like I'm walking on a bed of nails. We do get soft.
I spent time in the Twin Cities too, going to school and other such nonsense, but my head and my heart were always up north in the lake country. It was misery being cooped up for months with little contact with the wild. My bedroom became sort of a small natural history museum. I would draw pictures of wild scenes, build little displays with them, and populate them with models of wild animals. I needed to surround myself with what was important and familiar to me until I was set free again. Needless to say, that upbringing influenced my entire life.
I'm still like that. I'm not some kind of robo-man who functions well in captivity, but I'm doing it. Due to circumstances over the last several years I haven't been able to get out much. No need to bore with too many details, but divorce, health problems, and the resulting employment and money issues all hit at once and took a toll. I was homeless for the first half of this decade. I haven't had a car in years that I've dared drive past the city limits. I do have years of photographs I'm working with, but it's just not the same. True, they represent my own experiences and trigger many fine memories, but they're not the same as the real thing. Things are turning around though -- I have a reasonably good income, a place to live, my health is pretty good again, and I have a kid who keeps me hopping. I even have a new car. A good new car. One that I can actually go places with. I don't drive much, but it's good knowing that if I want to get out to the mountains, or maybe more importantly get my daughter out to the mountains, I can do it.
Which brings me back to the original point of this post. This one got a bit windy on me. I didn't intend to write an autobiography here, but it does tie in with my feelings on this. I was glad to see that the House of Representatives passed the
No Child Left Inside Act (HR3036) last week, which is designed to provide kids with more environmental education in the classroom as well as more actual hands-on learning experiences out in nature. That's a good thing. Kids need that. We all need that. Food may feed the body, and learning may feed the mind, but all of that needs to be rounded out with direct contact with the wild to feed the spirit. Experiencing wild nature, and getting to know all that is part of it with us provides a spiritual connection to our natural home that kids need for their well-being, and to become fully functioning, fully alive human beings. Yeah -- kids need that, and we as their parents need to see to it that they get it.
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