BIOLOGY PONDS REVISTED: BRANDY REYNOLDS Unity is the goal here this time and this time I have chosen to sit "on the other side of the hedge." I have stopped during my weary day of tests just to sit. I don't have to rush to class or work and don't have to do this or that. My goal is just to BE and if I don't want to do anything I don't have to. Even time isn't an issue on the other side of the hedge. Ironically people are rushing by me every where and I can hear the sounds of the clock on the tower, but here, on the other side of the hedge, it is a different world. Just ask the turtles, they will tell you. What do they have to worry about? NOTHING. Does time matter? NO. Could they sunbathe all day if they wanted to? YES. Sounds good, doesn't it? Here it is almost like time is standing still. Ah-ha, I heard the clock again. To me, it brought me back into the rat race because I recognized the sound and immediately thought of time. To the turtles, just another sound. Maybe they are so content that they dont even hear that sound. I wish I couldnt hear the sound. Honestly I feel a bit foreign or lost on this side of the hedge. Shouldn't I be doing something? Surely just sitting here isnt going to accomplish anything. Sure the turtles can live on this side of the hedge. I mean what can they really do anyway? Plus, we are better than the turtles and can accomplish so much more, right? Maybe not. Maybe everything we do is trivial. I mean what do most of us accomplish that stands out from someone else. I think rearely on a day to day basis do we do something significant. I agree with Darwin when he stated "HOW FLEETING ARE THE WISHES AND EFFORTS OF MAN! HOW SHORT HIS TIME AND CONSEQUENTLY HOW POOR WILL BE HIS RESULTS" (341). We seem to do what we think other people want or expect us to do. We are all expected to go to college nad obtain a decent job. That is pretty much everyone's goal back on the other side which is UT. Just look at everyone. They are all rushing around trying to make it to class. Many want to be here, many don't, but nevertheless they are here to obtain the SAME thing. Seems a little boring doesn't it? Wouldn't it be nice to sit by the pond all day and not do a thing? I would say yes, but I probably couldn't just BE for more than a couple of hours. I find this very sad. I am so accustomed to being busy that I can't usually just sit still. Since i've been "on the other side of the hedge," I have looked at my watch at least three times. Why? The answer: I dont know. I just always look forward to what is coming next that I forget to enjoy what I am doing NOW. I definitely couldn't live "on the other side of the hedge." I am not ready. The bell again....DONG, DONG, DONG. There are now two things I can do: stay here and enjoy the pond longer or rush to the bus stop to go home....I am going home to watch some "stimulating" t.v....typical huh? "MANKIND HAVE OTHER AIMS, AND I MUST JOIN THEM" (392).