Jenny Parker: Natural Setting I

Yesterday the class went down to Lion's Gate to experience nature in a natural setting and not just in pictures or conversation. "Nature runs wild because God, too, is an untamed lover of freedom" (213). I have been down to the Noland many times this year and each time I go it is refreshing and a new perspective of life, not just my own. This time as the class was there all together Dr. Redick talked about how one of his former students did not like the activity because the student thought it was silly to be able to interact/talk to a tree. Dr. Redick then told the class of his explanation to his student about being able to talk and interact with a dog. This comparison cleared things up a lot. A tree is just much as alive as a dog is. Dogs wag their tails, bark, play, etc. and thus shows humans they are very much alive and a subject too.
Yesterday I was looking at the leaves and I came to see that the leaves do in fact communicate not just with each other but with humans too. It is apparent that these trees are very much alive; the trees sway back in forth in the wind, their leaves change colors to orange, yellow, and red in the fall to let us know that winter is approaching and the leaves will soon fall off the trees and die. The trees have their own textures and scents to them. I touched one of the leaves on the tree beside the James River and it had a waxy coating. Not every leaf has this texture or feel to it, just as each and every human being has his or her own skin. Human beings are not all the same so why do we sometimes confine trees and nature to be all the same? Do the trees or nature in general need us to function? No, they are too subjects with their own projects.