The National Parks
Monday, September 28th, 2009Okay, if you’re not watching this special, I don’t get you. Ken Burns and Duncan Dayton have put together an amazing film, and we’re only two parts into the series. The history alone is fascinating, but for me as a visual person, I’ll now remember these characters much better as I visit the parks again and again. I feel very fortunate that the founder of CoolWorks.com, Bill Berg, set up shop in Gardiner, Montana, so I get to go to Yellowstone National Park at least once a year. This year, I’ll get to go twice because of the annual SHRA conference next month. How spoiled am I? But really, when you think about it, one has to go back, WAY back, to thank men like John Muir, Teddy Roosevelt, Robert Sheridan and so many others that lead the way to keep the parks as they were.
A really great line from tonight’s episode was regarding the Grand Canyon, one of my favorite parks, by Teddy Roosevelt. On seeing it for the first time, he said to ‘leave it as it is.’ Protect it for nothing man can do is but to mar it. Poignant, relevant and so true. Thank God he said it and through a loophole in the Antiquities Act, he set it aside, at least until they could truly make it a national park. Good for him and lucky for us.
So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to watch the rest of the film through October 2, 2009 on your local PBS station or via the website for The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. I don’t think you’ll regret it. In fact, your life might just be enriched by doing so. Mine has been. I’ve got two new heroes: John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt. Who will be your heroes?
