America's Great Outdoors

Americas Great Outdoors

I received the link above in an email this morning. It makes me happy to see that the government is pushing for people of all ages to get outside. But the fact that the government has to push people outside, it's very disturbing. Why aren't people getting outside themselves? Why are children inside all the time?


When I was a kid, I would come home, grab a snack, and head outside. My mom would just say "You can do your homework later, you've been inside all day, go play outside." I loved it. This was one of the best things my mother ever did for me (you know, asides from raising me, feeding me, providing for me, etc). But I feel like I'm one in a million that had that, and most of the time continue to go outside.

I grew up when technology was rearing it's ugly head. I remember our first computer, I thought it was so cool, but I would rather be outside than on  the computer. My brothers always had video games, and I loved playing them, but I loved being outside more. Now, only about 10 years later, my life is consumed by technology. I have a cell phone, that I can't wait to get rid of, I have a computer, that I could give up, but I don't want to, my iPod is my saving grace, I barely watch the tv I got for xmas last year, and my playstation sits collecting dust. My job now revolves around being on the computer and the internet during the off-season. Planning meetings, doing research, writing reports, and all that crazy adult stuff really sucks the life out of me.

What I would give to be far away from technology, maybe only having a home phone, and just living again like I did all the way through Sophomore year of high school: outside. I honestly don't think I've ever been to a national park (yet I'm working for the Park Service?!), but I've been to plenty of State parks and forests. Beyond my backyard was farmland, forests, and wetlands galore. They were my stomping ground, my blank canvas used to let my imagination run wild.

As I said in the beginning of this, there is something seriously wrong when a government is pushing to get its' people outdoors. I hope that someday we can all come to our senses and get back what technology has taken from us: our imagination.