Nature’s engineering

September 5th

This is a root system of a fallen pine tree in my local nature’s reserve. How complex and wonderfully useful it is. Every piece of a root, be it a big one that anchors the tree to the ground or smaller ones that get nutrition and water, is perfectly engineered for the whole tree to function and grow. How this system has developed over the eons and countless generations and evolutionary changes show that nature will be fine without us and our interference to thrive and adjust by itself to changing environment. I mean — we are just a blip on the evolutionary scale on our planet. It is very humbling, and I wish other people would understand that we are not a pinnacle of evolution — we just prefer to think that way.

I spend two hours this morning hiking around the forest, haven’t seen any other human there until I came back to a parking lot and saw several cars pulling in with other hikers. It was a really great walk, the enveloping silence broken at times by rustling leaves and birds chirping was exactly what I needed after a difficult and hectic week.

I think it was in May of this year when I was in the same forest that I found a nice broken branch that was used by me as a walking stick. It was just the right height for me, not too heavy but solid enough if I would have to use it in defense (it is always nice to have a stick like that while walking in the forest). It was kind of profile to fit my hand (I walk the stick in my left hand) with two knots right below and above my grip. After that walk, I left it by a tree by the parking lot. Since that time I have been to that same area at least 5 times and the stick was there waiting for me each time. And after each walk, I put it there by the same tree in the same position, but I think I grow fond of that stick and next time I will take it home with me — a little sentiment I feel right now.