As we spend this Memorial Day in gratitude for those who fought and died in service for our country, many of us will participate in uniquely American activities. Some will attend baseball games. Others will have backyard cookouts. Still others will attend farmers markets or community festivals where they will purchase homemade baked goods and locally grown produce. These are wonderful traditions.
When I was a young boy, there was a commercial with a catchy tune that talked about baseball, hotdogs, apple pie, and a certain American automobile brand. All of those things are familiar to Americans, but did you know that Wilderness is as unique an American concept as baseball? That's right! The concept of National Parks and Wilderness originated right here in the good old U-S-A.
As you make your plans for the Fourth of July or Labor Day, give some thought to visiting one of America's 756 Wilderness areas. And bring a young person with you. There is perhaps no better way to get in touch with America's past - than to visit America unspoiled - in the form of wilderness.
Perhaps Wallace Stegner said it best when he said "Something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the remaining wilderness be destroyed. We need wilderness preserved - as much of it as still left, and as many kinds - because it was the challenge against which our character as a people was formed."
Happy Memorial Day!
Post new comment