I like to start with a quotee to help get my mind rolling. A quote from Forster taken from The Other Side of the Hedge really sticks in my mind. He states,"It is the same road. This is the beginning, and though it seems to run straight away from us, it doubles so often, that it is never far from our boundary and sometimes touches it"(p.391). I like this quote because I relate it to my life. Sometimes I feel like I am so far from where I want to be in life, yet I stop and evaluate myself just to discover I am really not that far at all, I just had to look in another direction. When I try to think of this in context of the Biology pond it is a bit more unclear. However, I see all these people running around, scrambling to get to class and I wonder why they are so busy. I am here in a relaxing place yet there is so much going on around me. I guess peace is what everyone ultimately strives for and works so hard for and the road is all our hard work to get there. there are times where I feel I am so busy (like the people rushing by the pond)that I feel I am so far from peace or harmony, when in fact I am really quite close to it, I just have to pay a little more attention to my surroundings instead of what I have to get done. The Biology pond is a peaceful and calm place here among the hustle and bustle of the University.Before this class I had never stopped here to admire this place. I would just "GO GO GO" from one place to another until it was time for me to leave. I was too focused on what needed to be done by when that I forgot to take some time to clear my mind and relax. Life can affect you badly if you don't take that time out for yourself to simply relax and enjoy nature and life. Another quote that this Biology pond reminds me of is from Thoreau stating that "in wildness is the preservation of nature"(p.385). Thoreau said this in context of saving the giant redwoods of the west coast and to activities of such groups as the Sierra Club today. Conservation efforts need to be drastic and wild because people have stopped caring as much. Like today, everybody rushing by this pond is probably not considering it nor the animals that live in it. It shows by all the trash floating in the pond and the cigarette butts everywhere. However, I have left that state of mind and entered a new "wild" territory where all I do is concentrate on nature. The more I come and just enjoy nature , I come to care about nature's preservation. I don't know exactly if that is what Thoreau meant but people are more likely to appreciate and care about nature's preservation when they leave the confines of man and our creations to enter into the wilds of nature. When I try to imagine how Thoreau or Forster would imagine this place, my mind gets lost in thought. I can't really imagine it. However, I do think they would admire the beauty here. On the other hand, I think they would be slightly saddened by such urban surroundings. There is always more than one way of looking at things. i personally am glad that the pond is here. For me life is this campus. If this pond wasn't here, or any other nature spot on campus wasn't here, I don't think I would be very happy right now. I would have nothing to take my mind off school. This is a quick and convenient place to relax for ten minutes between classes or for hours at a time. At this point in my life where I have left home to live on my own, there is a lot of frustrations I have to learn to deal with: school, bills, car problems, relationships, time management, and more. Having a place like this pond to come to set in the middle of it is a relaxation technique for me.I come here when I need to stop, and collect my thoughts. I think that without places like this I would become too overwhelmed and not succeed in my goals. Nature helps wonders!