Submitted by Nathan Bolls

One of the great poets of ancient Persia, Khalil Gibran, once wrote:

“I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am grateful to these teachers.”

It is not for me to unravel just Gibran was moved to this confession concerning the pattern of this debts and of his feelings toward certain of his teachers. Each case is unique, but we all know something of the feelings he expressed. As no doubt for you, my teachers are legion and not all of them left a sweet taste in my memory.

My thoughts also wandered to lessons learned from time spent in the wild. Watch any species heavily preyed upon, e.g., the  cottontail rabbit and you can appreciate the practice of quiet alertness. This was given a human slant for me by a well-known football coach (whose name escapes me) with his utterance, “I never learned anything by talking.”

Early on I accepted the fact that we of the human species—albeit very especially endowed—make up but one of the countless animal types sharing the crust of Spaceship Earth. And, watching the interactions between animal species, I learned emotionally the physical finiteness of my mortal human body. As suggested by Canadian Stephen Jenkinson, a long-time end-of-life counselor, having emotionally accepted that fact should motive us to live life more fully and well.

I have learned that activities such as sitting quietly, watchfully and openly for an hour from any spot within our own natural area can give rise to the idea that one of the greatest of classrooms is The First Book of God.