The Outing

After much deliberation by my dear friend (and his colleagues) that lasted for nearly 18 hours, it was decided that on Sunday, the 6th of April 2008, they would visit Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area. The underlying plan was to have their portraits taken (by yours-truly) with waterfalls/ravines/woods as the background.

Why Worth Forgetting?

After intermittent obstacles (stopping and waiting for others to tag along, for breakfast, etc.), the group finally reached the area near Layton around 11 am (which was about two hours behind schedule according my plan)! When stopped for the first set of road-side shots on the way to Tillman’s Ravine, signs of uncivilized behavior surface for the first time. Yelling, shouting, and other such condemnable acts started one after the other…

Situation further worsened when I saw reckless and speedy driving on a wilder road, interspersed with residential areas, and the icing on the cake was at the Tillman’s Ravine parking lot. After having parked my car and setting up my camera gear, I see one [BLEEP] (apparently considered to be the leader/cause of such stupid acts) drives the car at high speed and does donuts (swirling/circling movements) with the car - resulting in noise that would easily outshine that in Times Square in NYC.

I was (and still am) in complete disbelief as to how could a bunch of people - so called educated (each one had one / two degrees from prestigious institutions) professionals (all of them work for the same multi-national company that Tiger Woods advertises for!) could behave like with such utter disrespect towards (the quietness of) nature!!

Upon asking a reason for such behavior, the lead [BLEEP]’s response: Now that I have done it [CAR DONUTS IN A QUIET ENVIRONMENT, CAUSING INSANE AMOUNTS OF NOISE], you will enjoy the quietness more/better!. My dear friend, whom I have known (or so I thought) for 10+ years, summarized & justified the behavior: Whenever a group of people go out, it’s quite natural for the mob-mentality to set in. If that lead [BLEEP] hadn’t shown up, most of the crowd would have behaved in a sane manner.

Compelling argument, but leaves me begging the same old questions:

1. How much longer before maturity sets in, even amongst the so-called educated professionals?
2. If a person’s behavior depends on those of the people surrounding her/him, should she/he be considered mature?
3. Why is it so easy to pick and follow a dumb/stupid thing? Why doesn’t our brain think to do something from its own judgement?
4. How much more loss (in terms of natural resources and wildlife habitats) do we have to endure before we realize that nature’s quiet beauty should enjoyed quietly and not abused.
5. Did the students fail the education system or the education system fail the students?

   My dear friend supported the latter but, please, I beg to differ.

6. How much longer before the realization, that JUST BECAUSE I PAID FOR IT, I NEITHER OWN IT NOR HAVE THE RIGHTS TO ABUSE IT, sets in?
7. How much longer before one realizes that one’s act(s), especially when outside of his/her own country, helps formulate views about that nation in general?
8. Most importantly, how long before we realize that freedom comes with responsibility?

It has been a week and I still can’t stop fuming about it - the scene ([CAR DONUTS IN A QUIET ENVIRONMENT, CAUSING INSANE AMOUNTS OF NOISE]) is still etched in my mind and pisses me off quite often. This one was, by far, the worst outing I have ever gone on. and I have never been more ashamed (of the people that I went with) in my life.

At the end of it all, I believe I am the one to be blamed - while these educated professionals assumed that they would be finding a 100 feet waterfall in the middle of Manhattan and that they could make as much noise as they wanted, I assumed that all educated professionals (most of them were/are in a serious relationship as well - another sign of maturity?) are mature enough to know the required etiquette to be amidst wildlife habitats and natural wonders. Neither their assumption was right nor mine - but the consequence(s) of my bad assumption(s) are worse than theirs

If everybody was like you, world would be a very boring place … so said my dear friend on that dreadful day. May be very very true. But by the same token, I strongly believe that if everybody was like them - with utter disrespect towards time, other’s opinions and public property - much of the wildlife on this God’s Green Earth would disappear sooner than later and we would have nothing to show for subsequent generations!

What makes this experience even more pitiful is that people involved hail from the same region that was once (at least in part) ruled by emperor Ashoka - the same fella who once inscribed the wildlife conservation laws/policies. Much like everything from that time, these were inscribed on stone - so that they would stand the test of time and some natural elements. But the level of natural awareness (amongst majority of people) is much like those stones … buried deep some place (the social fabric)…

Lessons Learnt

I swear you will never see me with these folks ever again - at least not in any place/region that has anything to do with nature and/or wildlife. It also has made me keep the phone numbers of all NPS local offices handy - so that I can report such obscene acts immediately. Last but certainly not the least, I learnt that I should not judge a book by its cover and that looks are most often deceiving, like Shakespeare once wrote in MacBeth - Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.

I have also realized that wildlife and nature (landscapes and waterfalls, etc.) were there in UP Michigan and there are probably plenty more in this part of the world. But what it certainly lacks (the mistake is on me, I haven’t found many yet) is the same number of sane people - that share similar concern and enjoy it the way it was/is meant to be. I MISS YOU GUYS

Pictures from this dreadful day are here: Waterfalls, etc.

If I thought what I went through was bad, my friend went though something that’s a million times worse. READ IT HERE.