What's so special about the Botanical Gardens?
The following was written by a member of the public who wishes to remain anonymous
When I think that even a part of the Botanical Gardens might be lost to Hospital construction it makes me want to cry – for myself because I love the Gardens, but also for Bermuda. It is such a treasure and it would be impossible to replace these 10 acres! What I fear people don’t realize is that the Gardens are much more than an open space or a park.
Our Botanical Gardens are made up of many collections of plants that were conceived, planned, and then planted and cared for, by a number of horticulturalists and gardeners over many decades. They are the heart of a beautiful, landscaped, MATURE open space, a place to meet friends and family, renew yourself.
The Gardens are also a place to learn about and experience the wonder of plants, and the importance of plants in our lives. Have you ever seen a young child try to stretch his arms around the trunk of the Peepul tree? (It would probably take five or six children to actually accomplish this!) Have you ever seen the face of a child when they hold the crushed leaves of the camphor tree in their fingers and realize that they smell like the medicine their mother puts on them when they have a cold?! Have you seen people having fun trying to figure out where a funny looking fruit came from and then learn that it’s from the African sausage tree that they were reading about the other day? Have you ever played around the rubber tree and realized that you may be the third generation of your family to have done just that? I have had all these experiences and more and they are priceless.
Please do not deny Bermudians, all residents of this precious island, and our visitors, the experience of joy, wonder and learning that the Botanical Gardens offers to everyone now and in the future!
As Baba Dioum said “In the end we conserve only what we love. We love only what we understand.”
If you haven’t visited the Gardens lately, please take the time to do so now! Take one of the free, guided tours or just go for a picnic or a leisurely stroll. I’m sure you will find it a wonderful experience and I think you will understand.
Comments
The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues.
The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature.
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment.
Subject : In a fast society slow emotions become extinct.
Subject : A thinking mind cannot feel.
Subject : Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys the planet.
Subject : Environment can never be saved as long as cities exist.
Emotion is what we experience during gaps in our thinking.
If there are no gaps there is no emotion.
Today people are thinking all the time and are mistaking thought (words/ language) for emotion.
When society switches-over from physical work (agriculture) to mental work (scientific/ industrial/ financial/ fast visuals/ fast words ) the speed of thinking keeps on accelerating and the gaps between thinking go on decreasing.
There comes a time when there are almost no gaps.
People become incapable of experiencing/ tolerating gaps.
Emotion ends.
Man becomes machine.
A society that speeds up mentally experiences every mental slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A ( travelling )society that speeds up physically experiences every physical slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A society that entertains itself daily experiences every non-entertaining moment as Depression / Anxiety.
FAST VISUALS /WORDS MAKE SLOW EMOTIONS EXTINCT.
SCIENTIFIC /INDUSTRIAL /FINANCIAL THINKING DESTROYS EMOTIONAL CIRCUITS.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY CANNOT FEEL PAIN / REMORSE / EMPATHY.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY WILL ALWAYS BE CRUEL TO ANIMALS/ TREES/ AIR/ WATER/ LAND AND TO ITSELF.
To read the complete article please follow either of these links :
PlanetSave
EarthNewsWire
sushil_yadav
Posted by: sushil_yadav | October 14, 2006 05:35 AM