Some people persist in viewing the natural world and its inhabitants as having no value other than to serve humans as resources, commodities, and tools. And then there are special individuals like John Hay, a writer now in his mid-eighties who has spent 50 years watching, celebrating, and working to preserve nature.
Since 1946, when Hay settled on Dry Hill in Cape Cod, less than a mile from the sea, he has been contemplating the diversity in the environment around him. The author of 15 books, including A Beginner's Faith in Things Unseen, In the Company of Light, and The Bird of Light, he has been called a prophet of nature in the company of Henry David Thoreau, Henry Beston, and Rachel Carson.
In this in-depth tribute to Hay, David Gessner (Sick of Nature) presents his conversations over the course of a year with this elder who looks upon the sea, sky, fields, and forest with loving eyes. The importance of seeing well is a major theme in his work. Hay recalls one telling incident: "I was down at Gray's Beach watching terns last spring. There were these two women walking down the boardwalk. All this life was swirling around them — laughing gulls, ospreys, terns — but they were not seeing it. They each had a cellular phone and they were both talking — separately! — into their phones. Now, I understand that we are social creatures, but we seem to have lost the ability to be alone and to look outward. They didn't look anywhere else, just staring ahead and talking, and I thought this was a perfect metaphor for how we visit our landscapes. They were blind to it. We're all blind. That's the real trouble. We need to open our eyes."
Gessner is impressed with this octogenarian's ability to empathize with other creatures. A "fierce astonishment" shines through his writings about animals of all types. He demonstrates the kind of humility that enables him to leap out of himself and see the world of connections. Hay respects the mysticism of Native Americans who are able to honor the sacredness of place, open themselves to the world of plants and animals, and experience daily the wonders of nature. Gemma Lockhart, a Sioux Indian, has called him "an arrow-shooter" who shows others how they might live better in the world.
This book will give you many ways to respect the earth, to cherish animals, and to carry on the great work of preserving the diversity of ecosystems.
