I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree,...

...or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines.

"My Walden moment" happens most often in the city, on its streets and amongst its ugliness and its chaotic life. All I have to do is go downstairs and hop onto its sidewalks. One day a couple of years ago, my long journey in the train was ended when my first encounter with New York life was started. It was eleven o'clock at night when I finally got to the station I aimed to, entering to the life of the city at night, was where I found my peace. I listened to the hum..the sound of people talking as if it were one rhyme of bees in a distance. Transactions, city lights, crowded sidewalks, and there I was, found my Walden moment. And I was at peace.

Another one happened when we decided to go ahead for a day hike in the snow, where nothing else could be heard and everyone, birds, squirrels, and geese were hiding in their nests. The wood was quiet, ready to listen to what God has to say, ready to receive the blessings of the million flakes on its ground. And I was there, also, listening, to what God had to say, among the conversations with friends along the way.



-- title by Thoreau.