City Park more
than Recreation
By Albert B. Kelly
In her book “The Human
Age” author Diane Ackerman says “As a species, we’ve somehow managed through…plagues,
world wars, and all manner of natural disasters, but I sometimes wonder if
we’ll survive our own ingenuity”
She mentions our new
technology, sensory overload and the speed of communications; electronic
distractions, handheld devices, blogs, cyber-bullies, tweets, altered sleep
patterns from nonstop light, working in windowless cubicles, and many other
things that cut us off from nature and the natural world.
Just in the area of health,
we’re now seeing new eye and vision problems that were unknown before the age
of computers. Of course we all know about the health impacts from living a
sedentary lifestyle, but it seems like we’re also losing the best of our natural
senses and mental powers from a life bathed in technology and “artificialness”.
Ackerman talks about the
difference between having our minds occupied and actually being present and
engaged. Since there’s no turning back the clock she suggests we “not forego
high-speed digital life, but balance it with slow hours of just being outside,
surrounded by nature, and watching what happens next”.
Not a bad suggestion and I
think it sounds about right. But that also led me to thinking about how
fortunate we are to have such a large and expansive park in the middle of our city.
The park is many things to
many people; places to play sports, ride a bike, or walk. The park is a place
where we will continue to make investments and improvements, but the park is first
and foremost a place to spend “slow hours” being outside, surrounded by nature
as Ackerman suggests.
If you’re of a certain
age, you remember that “playing” meant being outside. In fact, as kids, we
couldn’t wait to go outside and play no matter the weather or the season. We
would shovel snow off a basketball court or ball field just to play in winter.
Today, with so many
devices, I imagine most kids find being outside an inconvenience at best and
downright punishment at worst. It partly explains the rising incidence of
obesity and diabetes in children.
I guess my point is, with
so many things driving the pace of our lives, with so much light and noise and
information coming at us, with so many things that make our lives
unrecognizable from the lives our grandparents lived, we need to be deliberate
about slowing down and being outdoors.
Spending “slow time”
walking in the park, strolling along some trails, or soaking in some sunshine
can surely be a stress reliever. It may not change some circumstance in our
lives, but slow time outdoors, in nature, might just provide a second wind. At
the very least, it might help us to regain some needed perspective.
If you are a person of
faith, a little time outside listening to nature; its melodies and rhythms,
catching its scents and seeing its colors and shadows; might just provide a
little strength and a sense of renewal.
If you’re willing, our park can certainly be that type of cathedral.
For children today, with
so much of their lives shaped by technology- with their futures becoming ever
more digitized and electronic- one of the best things you could provide them
with is an introduction to and an appreciation of the outdoors and the idea of
“slow time”.
It is true that we have
evolved into an urban community and we’ll become more so with all that this
implies, but “urban” doesn’t translate into an absence of nature or an
inability to appreciate the outdoors and we have wonderful park to prove it and
reaffirm it.
Spending slow time
outdoors may feel like an indulgence or even perhaps a waste of time in our
hurry-up lives; but in the age of global warming and atmospheric change, it is
of vital necessity that we remember what’s at stake and our park is a good place
to unplug and do just that.
I find it a little ironic
that the next generation and the ones after that will have to do much of the
heavy lift on global warming and going green; yet they’re the ones who can
easily become the most disconnected from nature and the outdoors.
All of this is to say that
we have an amazing outdoor resource in our city park and I encourage everyone
to visit it, enjoy, and let it be a living “slow time” sanctuary in the middle of
our increasingly fast and hectic lives.