Hidden in Plain Sight

It’s not unusual for people to reference the strength and power nature possesses and presents to the world. Extreme weather. Powerful surfs, Canyon carving rivers. Majestic waterfalls. In this week’s Moment of Motivation, we highlighted an unseen strength found in nature.

“When you feel the weight of invisibility, remember: the strongest roots are buried. They’re the ones holding everything up.”

Rarely do we see the extensive root systems that keep the trees and flowers around alive, providing us with beauty, shade, and food. Nature hides some of its strongest attributes. Even as beautiful as some of nature’s visible contributions are, many are never seen without searching.

Consider the geode, a crystal formed by mineral water inside a hollow rock. Or the Benajil Sea Cave in Portugal, an example of a cave enclosed beach open to the sky, reachable only by boat, exposing 20 million years of limestone striations formed on its walls by age and nature.

You don’t have to travel thousands of miles to find splendor hidden in nature. A tree in your backyard can be the home of birds, squirrels, opossums, or even chameleons depending on where you and your tree live. The natural entrance to Carlsbad Caverns is a small mound dotted with cactus plants. This unassuming entrance hides nearly 47,000 acres of chamber caves and caverns, home to 17 species of bats, 63 species of mammals, and a variety of beetles, spiders, and other invertebrates.

Nature is most intense when it is behaving badly. Hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes, volcanos. Not unlike some people. We all know someone who you don’t hear from unless they are complaining about something, and sometimes, upending the ideas and plans of others. When a grandstanding-type individual gets used to getting attention, it is not a far reach to when they begin to demand attention for doing the little things that make life a happy experience. They begin demanding thanks rather than offering assistance unconditionally, questioning others’ opinions when thoughts and beliefs are being discussed, insisting on being the driving force when ideas are turned into projects.   

Nature would never behave like that. Nature is most inoffensive when it is in its, if you’ll forgive us, natural state. Just hanging out, day out and day in, day in and day out, doing what nature does, making the world a livable space. Making the world an exciting place. Making the world a beautiful place.

These are the ways that nature nurtures Earth’s inhabitants without being dramatic about it. Again, consider the geode. The treasure inside may be dramatic, but nature’s apparent contribution in it is providing some water and a rock.

That maple tree you see across the street, it isn’t just a tree. It is a habitat, a bird refuge, an oxygen generator, a food source, an energy source, a shade-producing temperature regulator, a noise abator, and perhaps even a swing holder.

The rocks along the ground aren’t just potential pebbles in your shoes. They are resources for construction materials, landscaping, erosion control, garden borders, potential jewelry pieces, sources of minerals for dietary supplements and cosmetics, and some open up to reveal beautiful crystals.

Yes, as we put forth this week, there is much hidden strength in nature. There also is much beauty, utility, help, and life hiding in nature. Indeed, there are times when we could do a lot better if we acted more like trees and rocks than when we act as people.