Let!

Today my three, my two, and I went to Utah Lake State Park. After several years of living in Provo and passing by the opportunity to go to this park because I was too cheap to pay the day-use fee of 9 dollars, I have finally done it. We went. We parked outside the toll station of course and DID NOT pay the fee. We DID however enjoy all the beauties of nature and felt the stillness of life all around us. The birds did chirp and chatter, the wind did blow, the water did lap lightly at the beach, but it was still still. I felt like I was inside a giant bowl surrounded by a circle of snow-capped mountains. This photograph does not do this place justice. It's just like me to forget my camera too. Not that I could garuntee a better picture.
As we trekked out of the park my children and my niece and nephew wanted to bring sticks and leaves and rocks, but of course it is against the law to take things out of State owned property. I then explained some of the most important rules on caring for nature. Don't take anything except what you can catch on camera and don't litter. Leave no trace! It is so true that we humans cannot make nature more beautiful. The only thing we can do to bring beauty to the earth is to leave it alone. It will become beautiful on its own if we let it. Why can't we just let it! It is so hard to just let things be.
We can't let our children just be, we have to speed them along with the rest of the competing society so they can enter the rat race a step ahead of everyone else.
We can't just let ourselves be. We have to pick and prod ourselves into an image that we think will be acceptable to our peers.
We do it to our husbands too, I think. Pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, and so on for eternity. Poor guys.
We won't let other people be either. We seem to always question why other people do things. Why?
I love the word "let". Let there be light. Let your hair down. Let it be. Let them eat cake. Let go. Let me be. Let's be friends. Let us join together in a moment of silence.