Falling in Love with Nature

Long before boys and girls discover girls and boys and begin to appreciate the difference, they discover the natural world and will often fall in love with some element of it. Although loving a trusted pet or a wild animal or a tree or meadow or even a stray kitten may not seem as 'grown-up' as boy-girl love, it is much safer and often much truer. Besides your mother, can you imagine a love truer, purer, or as unconditional as that from that first puppy that followed you home?

If these things can love the people who love them, then why not find love from an animal? Think of the dog who barks until the neighbors find his sick master or the kitten who follows her family across several states when she is accidentally left behind in the move. In theory, a cowboy's horse is just a tool he uses to make his living, but a definite bond is formed after weeks on the trail.

People want to imagine that they have evolved beyond the natural world, that they are part of civilized society and nature is something which is to be tamed or conquered. The more we study and understand nature, the more we realize that it is a beautiful thing that was created by a power we can never fully understand. If God loves us and we love God, how can we help but love nature, as well?

• The Cavalcade of America, July 24, 1944, "Lovely Lady". During the invasion of Sicily, the General gets word that the enemy will be there a day sooner than expected, so he needs to get his entire unit over the narrow road through the mountains. Out in front is Pvt Minelli and his bulldozer, the Lovely Lady, clearing the way.
• All-Star Western Theater, January 10, 1948, "Jerry and his Donkey Honky". Cowboys love their horses, but guest Jerry Colonna feels even closer to his donkey, who he named Honky. When he was working at the WW Ranch as a cook, the boss's sister from back East asks Jerry to marry but Jerry cannot leave Honky behind.
• Lux Radio Theatre, January 19, 1948, "The Yearling". Gregory Peck reprises his role from the 1944 film. When young Jody's pa is bitten by a rattlesnake, he has to kill a doe to use the liver to draw out the poison. Jody adopts the doe's fawn but his pa warns him that when the deer grows up, it will have to be set free. 
• Fort Laramie, June 3, 1956, "Don't Kick My Horse". Trooper Jobey Turler has been with his horse, Belle, for the whole ten years he has been in the cavalry. Captain Quince knows that it is time for the eleven-year-old horse to be put down, but how can he "cut out a man's heart without hurting him too much?"

See also: Nature and Animal Lovers Compilation