Nature Connection: The Generosity Of Nature

In spite of a world that seems to venerate greed and all its trappings more each day, I find myself considering and appreciating generosity. Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities to witness and experience generosity every day. Generosity may be intrinsically quieter and subtler than greed, but it’s out there. In fact, if you look for it, you can find it anywhere and everywhere.

The winter holidays celebrate gift giving and receiving, all of which invite us to be generous with each other, both individually and societally. Many of us make monetary donations to organizations that take care of those in need, bake treats for our neighbors and those that serve the community, and wrap up gifts for children we may never meet. Generosity makes us feel good.

We come by our generosity naturally, I think. Nature herself is generous and we see, feel and hear signs of this daily. Trees spread their limbs above us, full of life-giving leaves that freely give us oxygen. Fresh water falls as rain that flows down mountainsides, through rivers and lakes, and allows us to drink what we need when we need it. We humans use many minerals and materials such as stone and wood to build our homes and businesses. We have fire to use as fuel, as heat, as protection back in the day to keep wild animals at bay. The ocean supplies food for all, large and small, and the woods, prairies, meadows and ponds do as well.

Nature is so generous that she has provided both the land and the waters with an abundance of varied lives, from amoebas to lions to whales to dragonflies and herons. These lives are bound in cycles that create endless possibilities for sustenance and survival.

Nature gives us sunshine and moonlit nights, rain and snow, fog and humid summer days. She knows variety really is the spice of life, and she spreads a buffet before us on a daily basis. There are plants to use as medicines or to spin and weave with to make clothing or blankets or tents. There are plants that give us beautiful colors and that smell deliriously fresh, sharp, pungent or sweet. Plants are the basis of all food chains.

It is hard to imagine how we humans could survive without the generosity of nature; she is so entwined with everything we do, everything we are. And yet, we forget and sometimes take her for granted, even abuse and misuse her.

Humans have learned to use nature to their advantage and have created many ways to use the things she gives so freely. Unfortunately, we have also learned how to profit from her without giving back. She doesn’t complain. That’s not her way. But she does occasionally show her displeasure when the going gets too rough. 

Use up all the good topsoil and she may leave it up to us to figure it out. Strip-mine a mountaintop or spill oil all over the sea? Deal with the consequences. Eat a poisonous mushroom? Oops.

Storms, fires, floods, tornadoes, landslides, earthquakes, tsunamis? All natural events that nature seems to see as ways to clear out, reset, move things around, start over. A good storm knocks down dead trees and old branches. Floods redistribute silt and stones and earth. Fires clear out dead wood and allow for fresh starts for many plants and animals.

Sometimes it is difficult to accept these acts of generosity from nature because they can be so disruptive and destructive to many human communities, but they are all part of the larger plan that nature oversees.

As the holiday season bears down on us, it is easy to get caught up in the commercialization that has infiltrated every element of our lives from now through the first of the year. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with it all, so remember to take a break and get outside. 

Watch the birds, listen to the waves, give your favorite tree a good hug. Take a big sip of some nice clear water and enjoy your heated home, indoor plumbing, and your car or truck. None of these would be possible without the generosity of nature. Take a deep breath and look around you. Everything we have, including our phones, computers, vehicles and entertainment, began with natural materials of some kind. Think about that for a minute. 

Every day we are the beneficiaries of nature’s generosity. Maybe it’s time we started thanking her by giving back, by considering our usage and dependence on things we’ve become so accustomed to having in our daily lives. As you give and receive gifts this season, maybe consider where all of them began. The most important gifts she gives us — oxygen, water, food and shelter — are so basic for us we totally take them for granted. Let’s not forget that what is freely given can also be taken away. All we have to do is turn on the news to see and hear proof of that.