The First Few Moments

I have been working the past few weeks as a “Naturalist” on lower Johns Island and Kiawah Island and as you might assume, I have been working in close proximity with the natural world. As a biology student who spends a lot of time in lab and classes, it becomes easy to forget what it all about in the end. However the past few weeks have begun to remind me why I became a biology student and why I joined the environmental studies program in an effort to conserve/preserve just that. What I’ve found in the field is that there is something absolutely mesmerizing about something I’ve begun to call the “first few moments.” As I began to work in the field on Kiawah, I will often move small alligators out of roadways or backyards move sunning snakes out of busy roads, or identify all different types of trees and insects. Each time I hold an alligator in my hands or spend time gazing at the intricate beauty of an American Sycamore, I am completely engrossed in the intricacy of the natural world for a few moments until my science background begins to explain and identify what it is I am seeing and the moment is gone. I am not alone, many times I work with kids who are visiting the island and putting a diamondback terrapin in their hands, you can see the “first few moments” in their eyes as they are completely riveted by a living creature outside of themselves. Shortly after their attention spans are spent and they are on to another thing but still they had that moment that we all share with regard to the natural world. A Henry Miller quote I often think of comes to mind, “The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” It is this moment that I have recently been attempting to spend more time in and explore. It is this moment that brought me into the sciences and it is this moment, which I will continue to protect and share with generations to come.