On a recent flight to California, I was seated next to a 10-year-old heavy-set boy who was traveling alone...alone that is with his hand-held Game Boy.  From the east coast to the west coast, he played his game non-stop.  At one point, the captain came on air and announced that we were flying right over the Grand Canyon and we could see a fantastic view of this national treasure.  I was struck by the fact that the boy never raised his eyes once to look.

I should not have been so surprised, the young man fits the sorry statistics for the average American child.  American children are spending more than forty hours a week looking at TV, computers and various gadgets.  As a consequence, they are getting fat and out of touch with nature.  In a sense, they are living in an artificial world that takes preeminence over the real world.

Perhaps it’s more a reflection of all Americans than we would like to admit.  When is the last time you sat on your porch and quietly listened to the night sounds of nature?