wendell for wednesday

Wendell was honored with an award from the Tulsa Library Trust last month. In an interview with a local paper, he said, “Every day, I go outdoors because I have to, which is a good thing. Some days, I’d just as soon stay inside and read or write, but I have to go out,” he said. “And always, within minutes of getting out, I’m delighted to be out. That’s been one of the great advantages of this place is that it’s required me to live my life outside.”

This week’s WFW isn’t anything too poetic or eloquent – just a casual remark in an interview – but it struck me as profound because for so many of us these days, it isn’t necessary for us to go (or be) outside, especially during these cold, dreary days on winter. As Berry pointed out in his Jefferson Lecture, “it all turns on affection.” We can’t have affection for something that we don’t know, and we can’t know nature if we don’t spend any time in it.