WriterByNature.com

Any spoken language will change as new inventions, technologies or circumstances change our lives.

I am reading Robert Winkler’s Going Wild: Adventures with Birds in the Suburban Wilderness.

The words suburban wilderness form an oxymoron, a figure of speech which combines contractory or incongruous terms.

I could express my dismay at the need for a term like suburban wilderness, but since humans continue to displace many native plant and animal species, this oxymoron is an efficient and accurate way to communicate how we live.I used to fantasize about going off into the wilderness and living with no pre-fab, manufactured materials. Les Stroud (a/k/a Survivorman) and his wife did just that for one year.

I learned that a metal knife is easier to use than a stone one, thinsulate is lighter and easier to move in than hides or leather, a butane lighter is easier to use than a bow drill, and farming yields more food than hunting and gathering.

What is lost, in this fast-paced world, is the sense of connectedness that comes from walking instead of riding, listening to squirrel’s alarmed chatter, watching patterned snowflakes fall, or breathing in the aromas of a campfire.

I have gone into the woods for weeks at a time. After about a week, my sense of smell and touch is sharper; my presence no longer alarms animals. Several years ago I was squatting, studying a track, when a red fox walked so close, its fur brushed my arm. I used my peripheral vision and had no trouble staying still.

It’s a qualitative difference that is really hard to explain.

I am blessed to have daily woods time, but I really miss those extended stays in a self-made shelter. Maybe I’ll revisit the idea of a woods trek in May.