Most of the individuals who have inspired me are naturalists and scientists, but I wanted to start this first post with a poem that has helped me through many difficult times. One of my favorite quotations from Anne Frank reads: "The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature... Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be…As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that there will always be comfort for every sorrow. I firmly believe that nature brings solace to all troubles."

Berry's poem reflects that same idea--


The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.