Thursday, April 21, 2011

Happy Birthday John Muir!

 
John Muir, 1872

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,
places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal
and give strength to body and soul alike.

- John Muir, The Yosemite (1912), page 256.





I literally cannot imagine what life would have been like without him.


Would there be an NPS?

Would I be a conservation biologist?

Would Yosemite be a pricey private resort & spa?


Yikes.


And, might I add


Phew!


and


Hooray!



A Happy Birthday, indeed.


=)


biobabbler

P.S. A wonderful place to go if you could us a little inspiration is this assemblage of John Muir quotes, from the Sierra Club.

2 comments:

  1. I agree, an extrodinary man and one his quotes, "Come to the mountains and get their peace..." is one of my favorites.
    So many of us have much more fear in our lives than he did. Who among us who think of setting out from San Francisco area and 'walking' to Yosemite...alone! That's impressive to me!

    I have that documentary from American Masters recorded...maybe' I'll watch it tonight to celebrate.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Sue, I totally agree. I've read a few accounts of people walking across large swaths of America and they all said that wherever they were, the people there were kind, but always warned them about the people the walker was headed toward (the next state over, usually).

    Xenophobia. So pervasive, so seldom warranted.

    Just GET OUT OF YOUR HOUSE, people! I think watching that documentary is a LOVELY idea. =) Yay, you. =)

    P.S. the degree to which that 1/2 Ca poppy of your looks like a butterfly continues to drive me insane every time I see it. Kinda magical. =)

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Cool people write inside rectangles....