Sunrise

Every day I have to force myself to get out of bed at 6:30a.m., because I have an 8:00a.m. class Monday through Thursday. Most of the time I am resentful and crabby because I am definitely not a morning person, but the other day I saw something on my walk to class that made my routine of getting up truly worth it. As I walked across the bridge over Howard Street, I looked up to see the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen. The sky was a blend of pink and purple and blue, with soft cotton-like clouds perfectly placed in the mix. I stood and stared for a few minutes (before coming to the realization that I was already running late) and stared into the beauty of the unknown sky.

That is what I love about seeing something new in nature. The first time you see a vast body of water or the sunset on a beautiful summer night, whatever it is brings a sense of wonder. Constantly blooming, budding, sprouting, and growing, nature changes and brings new sights every time we turn around. Nature is all around all the time, but the feeling of quiet bliss sneaks its way into the mind when a beautiful new sight is seen.

It kind of reminds me of John Burroughs’ passage, “The Art of Seeing Things”. This selection spoke to me from the beginning, because it enveloped the notion that everyone can see the many things that nature has to offer if they just look closely. He also describes how everyone sees nature differently, and I love these descriptions because of the truth they hold.  He states “To the scientist Nature is a storehouse of facts, laws, processes; to the artist she is a storehouse of pictures; to the poet she is a storehouse of images, fancies, a source of inspiration; to the moralist she is a storehouse of precepts and parables; to all she may be a source of knowledge and joy” (147). Everyone has their own interpretation of nature and its power, and it only takes a few seconds, or a beautiful sunrise at 7:30a.m., to see it.