Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. 'Nothing in particular,' she replied. I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.

How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough, shaggy bark of a pine. In spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of awakening Nature after her winter's sleep. I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions; and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me.

-Helen Keller, Three Days to See (1933)
NB: Helen Keller was deaf-blind.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Graduation


Sackville, in particular Bridge Street's broken bridge, is my favourite place in the world. Since just after my arrival at Mt.A, I have stopped by there regularly on runs and seen it in so many different lights. Not only has it become a place of calm and reflection for me, but it has also become a place with which I associate many fond memories.


On top of all the time I've spent alone at the bridge's remains, I've shared the site with most of my good friends at one time or another: on clear sunny days, on misty mornings, on serene starlit nights.


Perhaps the symbolic value of the site is that although the broken bridge may represent an obstacle to continuing one's path to the other side of the the river, if one stops and takes in the surroundings, he or she will notice the beautiful view from that site and the many alternate routes across the river.


The site is so beautiful, however, that one can keep coming back to it without ever having the slightest desire to go any further; needless to make the connection between this path, and that of my own life.


-From my Human Geography Lab #1, January 16th 2007