In the dark of the morning it came.
I’ve never experienced anything quite the same.
Shaking the ground beneath us,
Creating quite a fuss.

The power of the storm I wish to discuss,
My already slim hours of sleep I had to adjust.
The timing quite correct,
A reminder that we need to respect,
Something that society so often rejects.

It’s nature you see,
And it’s larger than you and me.
It’s what sustains us all,
Both great and small.

If this we forsake,
Our future will be at stake,
And how my heart does ache.
So I beg you to awake.

This world is of just one,
And if we keep living like this, it’s almost done.
I urge us all to go outside,
Put our busy lives aside.

Over time we can learn to love,
Nature we can become a part of.
With an open heart and open mind,
We can become a more connected kind.
It’s really quite important I think,
That humans and nature become in sync.

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better” – Albert Einstein

This morning we awoke to a storm. But not just any storm, it was like no storm I have ever witnessed before. It was SO loud, and the lightening was quite eye catching. As the girls and I fussed over scared kittens and stood in awe of the storm’s power, I couldn’t help but wonder.

This storm could not have been more perfectly timed. Over our last two weeks here we have done lots of exploring and have looked at many different places, which we have tended to categorise as natural or unnatural. During this time I have questioned, how do we define natural places from unnatural places, and does it really matter? Should our job as OE instructors simply be to foster peoples understandings of the environments they occupy, and their place within it – A.K.A, place-based learning.

What I’m leaning towards after my visit to Singapore is that it doesn’t really matter if we view places as natural or unnatural. At the end of the day, all these terms really boil down to is perception. Coming from Australia, I perceive certain places as more natural than others, but if I grew up somewhere different then these perceptions might change.

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today” – Dale Carnegie

I also think that there is a certain power that can come from viewing all places as natural. Not all students will enjoy being in the ‘wilderness’, but maybe they enjoy spending time in the local park, or cycling down the green corridor. Or maybe they just like sitting on a park bench and looking at the water. In any case, this resembles some kind of a connection with these places, and I think that’s exciting. Maybe they don’t go around telling everyone how in love they are with specific places, but they still choose to spend time here over somewhere else. As an Outdoor Educator I feel as though I am in a really amazing position to foster and nurture these connections, and to help them to grow.

The storm this morning served as a reminder to me that nature is all around us all the time, and that it is incredible. I would like for my future students to be able to see this, and I dream of a more connected world.

“You didn’t come into this world. You came out of it, like a wave from the ocean. You are not a stranger here” – Alan Watts