Saturday, October 4, 2025 at 5:15 PM
It is a time when nothing seems to be going right in this world. Bad news dominate. I don’t think the world has been this depressed since the Great Depression. I mean, whether in Belize or the United States or anywhere in the world, except for Finland, which has been voted the happiest place in the world, forever. We are in a bad place in this third decade of the new millennium.
The above picture gives me hope for the possibilities we can still look forward to. The hopes and joys all entwined together to take us out of our darkest nightmares. From the darkness of politics and AI and wars, to the beauty and innocence of nature that can become balm that soothes our troubled minds. I must admit that I get caught up in this maelstrom, this worldwide drift into an unleashing of the worst in all of us. Sometimes it seems almost unbearable to exist under such conditions.
I take a walk every evening around my neighborhood, the streets, the alleys and the parks. Every evening I see something beautiful, different, something that makes me feel that there is hope for the future. The above picture is proof of that sentiment: the rabbit in the park, sitting in the middle of the walkway, oblivious to all the dangers in this world, just sitting there, enjoying the sounds of the night, and probably planning his shopping list before winter steps in. Wat a ting!
This is the best time of the day for me, when I’m commuting with nature, without pundits telling me what I’m thinking, without worrying about Trump or wars or narcos in our government. A time for reflection and meditation, and a time to see the goodness and beauty in nature.
I am blessed to be able to enjoy this respite from the sturm and drang we are all experiencing. I know that it is better than sitting around after dinner watching television and becoming more agitated or depressed. Plus, it is a good thing to get in all those steps, exercising without even knowing it, doing your mind and body some good.
I have taken thousands of pictures on my phone through the years, most of them celebrating the beauty that is all around us, beauty that some of us don’t even notice, or are too blind to see. I don’t care where you live, in a desert, in a ghetto, or in a place full of plants and creatures, there is some beauty there, if you look for it. And if not, look up at the heavens and marvel at the miracle of our universe; look at the beautiful moon or planets or stars or sunsets or sunrises. The beauty in a storm, in the rain, in the thunder, in the lightning!
I believe that nature has given us all this beauty to help us balance our daily lives in the best way possible; if only for a little while, that’s enough, no?
“I see skies of blue
And clouds of white
The bright blessed day
The dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world!” —Adamson/Savitt/Watson
Glen
