Being Human

There is something so grounding and good in growing vegetables.  This weekend, Kenneth & I planted the rest of our vegetable garden and harvested tomatoes, peppers, & squash.  Why is it so satisfying?  I realized, with my hands in the dirt, that I tend to gravitate towards things that make me feel human:  growing food, climbing rocks, caring for babies.  Connecting to the wild, to the natural world, to the REAL, has such a strong pull- it influences so much of what I choose to do.  Hands on.  It is why I chose nursing over medicine:  the mundanity of simple actions such as feeding and bathing is to be revered.  Just like plucking a tomato from the vine.

All this got me thinking about those who are deprived of nature.  When I was out in Salt Lake City for the O.R. show, FiveTen held an athlete seminar where Sally Jewell (CEO of REI) spoke about the nature-deficit disorder facing American children, very echoic of a great book a friend gave me:  The Last Child in the Woods.   

Not even a week after hearing this talk, I was volunteering at My House playing with an ex-patient of mine.  He had been hospitalized for the first eight months of his life (at least five of which in my NICU) and quite frequently after that.  I took him outside for an adventure and he panicked when I put his feet in the grass or dirt.  He refused to touch leaves, flowers, sticks, trees, butterflies, etc.  (and this is a boy who can usually not keep his hands off anything)!  The only object he felt comfortable with was the iron gate fencing (reminiscent of his hospital crib I presumed).  It took a lot of work just to get him to stand barefoot on the ground.  Granted, this is a case of extremes, but what a tragedy to have a tree be so foreign that it is frightening!  All this reinforced Sally's message:  let's get kids back in the woods or at least the garden : )