I have written a couple of stories now about the time my family and I spent in Folly Beach, South Carolina. I wrote about things that happened and events I remember as a four-year-old. As I was growing older, I was just starting to really connect with my older brothers and sisters, with my parents, and with the world around me, i.e., nature. In the ’50s, Folly Beach was one of the perfect places to experience a memorable childhood.
The endless beach provided not just a playground for my siblings and me but also the opportunity to be totally immersed in nature from sun-up to sun-down – and that’s precisely what we did. We enjoyed every waking minute spent on the beach or the woods behind our house. Every day was spent soaking up nature, engaging in the beautiful natural world around us, and learning just how we all get along, i.e., people, plants, and animals, on this planet. It only makes sense that when I grew up, I became an Ecologist (a scientist who studies how animals and plants interact with their environment and each other). I already was one, thanks to my time spent at Folly Beach.
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”
— Albert Einstein
My earliest memories in life are from my time spent there. Not just of the natural world around me but of connecting and growing with my family. These things made the time I spent there full of beautiful memories.
“The child is father of the man.”
– William Wordsworth
From
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
I don’t think of a better summary of my life from the very beginning of my memories to now can be written. I think we all will benefit, as will Mother Earth and all our “earth-born companions,” if we only have natural piety for the world around us.