What Most Don’t Notice

In the middle of West Bay Park Olympia, I sat at a picnic table and took in my surroundings. I lit my tobacco pipe, and waited for something to catch my eye. The very first thing I noticed was the amount of various colored daisies there were. I walked about the field picking daisies and any other colorful weed-flower I saw. I remember when I was a child, my friends and I would value these “flowers” not because they were pretty, but because we were amazed at all the places we could find them. To find several patches of them in this park reminded me that my love for nature has run for a long time. I stood in the field and thought about all of the children who venture in this park throughout their childhood, picking daisies and playing with their friends, valuing the nature around them. I tried to visualize this place and the history it held, what it might of looked like before it was made into the park, then what types of people came to visit it. I thought about how it has been treated, valued, or even noticed by everyone in Olympia. Before I got to distracted in my thoughts, I walked back to the table.

With two hands full of daisies and a pipe in my mouth, I’ll admit I got several strange looks walking back to my table from the park visitors. I pressed a few daisies for representation, and began to take notes on my surroundings. I noticed that this park had the best view of all that Olympia had to offer. I could see the Olympic Mountains, Mount Rainier, the Capital Building, the port, a beach, and most of downtown. Most people that were roaming the park didn’t notice the brilliant natural aesthetic surrounding them, they were walking dogs, talking, staring at they’re phones, the usual. How could they not admire the blossoming trees, many patches of daisies, chirping birds, skittering squirrels, all the mountains, and beautiful flowers?  I was in awe in the fact that no one was noticing the beauty around them, but then I took a closer look.

Most of the trees and plants  were human planted, bird songs and squirrels are pretty normal background noises, everyone who lives here is pretty used to the beautiful Sound and mountains. At that moment I realized that oftentimes people who have spent their whole lives in beautiful settings like this one don’t actively go out and appreciate it and every little detail it holds. This made me reflect on the fact that people who spend there lives in places like the Northwest just expect all of this natural essence to be present wherever they call home. But the problem with that is, what’s going to be felt when that nature is gone?

April 2nd – Park Area

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