Last Friday, I spent the morning delivering presentations about birds and butterflies to two classes of second grade and one class of third grade students at the local elementary school. While I have delivered countless presentations on these and similar topics over the years, it is always after presenting to children that I feel the greatest sense of accomplishment and personal satisfaction from having done something truly worth-while.
When I was a child, I never had the opportunity to hear an adult speak at length about anything connected to the study of natural history. My teachers were well-meaning and did their best to teach my classmates and I the information required by the state in the official curriculum, but none of them were naturalists and the pursuit of naturalist studies was never presented in a way that made it seem to be anything more than a hobbyist activity. I often think that had the wonder of nature been introduced by someone who truly saw it as such – inspiring of wonder – perhaps I might have undertaken studying it decades earlier than I did.
The curiosity of children is a marvelous thing. They are so full of questions to which they truly want answers that the time spent either answering them or helping them to discover the answers themselves is extraordinarily refreshing to the soul. I hope that the time I spent with these students left each one of them with something they’ll remember for years to come but in truth, even if only one of them finds him or herself encouraged to go into the library in search of a book on birds or butterflies, or even better, out into the fields or woods in order to discover the wonders of nature personally, I will consider my presentations successful.
Peace and good bird watching.
