Greetings from Virgin Islands National Park

In this national park, humans and nature interact respectfully. While wilderness was the foundation of American culture, it has since taken on many new connotations. Wilderness is supposed to be a place where no person remains, yet people constantly search for answers in the wilderness. People believe wilderness provides them with spiritual guidance and new beginnings. However, if it is a place where no man remains, it can do none of those things. People interact with nature every day, be it a tree in a city park or a national park. However, we have constructed wilderness so that it must be isolated from people and fit certain criteria. Furthermore, we then change the wilderness to make it what we want. This distracts from the fact that nature is all around us. We fail to appreciate the nature we see every day when we focus on the few places that fit the definition of wilderness. We should be focusing on interacting respectfully with all nature, not just saving the nature we believe is worthy.

Sincerely,
Karah