Is it truly? How can it be? Ken Burns, in his PBS presentation of “The National Parks,” proposes that the creation of our national parks is America’s best idea. Once our nation itself was created (a truly great idea), I do believe that one of the most lastingly symbolic and important things our nation’s leaders did for all of us was to listen to wisdom of the “wilderness prophet,” John Muir. They acknowledged the grandeur of God’s creations that so lift us all—the mountains, the prairies, the canyons, the rivers, the coastlines, the forests and woodlands of our magnificent continent. In the context of our democratic ideals, the national parks are our best idea because these are so much “for the people.” These parks are those portions of our grand land that belong to us all.  

I invite you to tune into PBS tonight as there are two episodes of the five-part series remaining. If you miss these the first time around, they will be repeated in months ahead. You will learn much of our nation’s history as you see the strong thread of “national park” interest and inspiration that weaves through it. You will sit in reverence as you see the images of the places most of us have come to love or hope to visit. You will listen in awe to the stories of those who preserved these sanctuaries of nature for our enjoyment and edification. As we stand side-by-side as park visitors, looking up at a glistening waterfall or down into a crimson canyon, we put our daily cares and strife aside. As we sit on a wooded hillside and look down where the buffalo graze and where the antelope roam, we regain a sense of our own spiritual origins.

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