Over the years, a wall of stone and beautiful ivy has grown up around me, and only family and wildlife are allowed in. Although shafts of light are
Over the years, a wall of stone and beautiful ivy has grown up around me, and only family and wildlife are allowed in. Although shafts of light are starting to get through all this, I am still wary and catch myself wondering how long it will last.
Unfortunately, for me, I'm different. Different from everyone in my class. Different from most people in my school. But at break time today I watched the pied wagtails fly in and out of the nest. How could I feel lonely when there are such things? Wildlife is my refuge. When I'm sitting and watching, grown-ups usually ask if I'm okay. Like it's not okay just to sit and process the world, to figure things out and watch other species go about their day. Wildlife never disappoints me like people can. Nature has a purity to me, unaffected.
As I read Dara McAnulty's diary of his 13-14th year, I frequently felt a sense of - well, awe. That's partly because of the quality of the writing and the observations, but it's also because of just how much this young teenage boy already knows about the natural world. I'm blown away by how much he has already committed to mind and heart.
This diary has three major strands to it: nature, autism and environmental activism. Actually, there is a fourth strand: Northern Ireland. McAnulty is Irish, and there is a strong flavour of the history, culture and flora and fauna of his native turf. He incorporates Celtic words and legends into his personal story, and I have learned more about the wild spaces of Ulster in this book than the sum total of all of my previous knowledge of the place.
McAnulty's family is exceptional in many ways and he is very conscious of the supportive web of family support around him. He, his mother and his two younger siblings are all autistic; their father is a scientist. The entire family is passionate about the natural world and they have been raised with a potent combination of intellectual curiosity and emotional concentration. Much of the diary highlights family trips to various kinds of nature preserves, walks in the forest and even bird feeding in their own back garden. He shares so many observations of the natural world around him - with some educating points for the reader. (This reader, at any rate.)
His nature writing is filled with joy and reverence, for the most part, but his insights into the emotional and social difficulties he suffers because of his autism can make for painful reading. There is a lot of anger in this book, some of it directed to a world that despises and fears difference - and some of it more to do with the indifference of the world that does not care for or value nature in the same way that he and his family do. McAnulty is both detailed and eloquent in his descriptions of how he copes with the world around him, and the toll that it can take on him.
In the course of the year chronicled in this diary, two years ago, McAnulty's role as a passionate young advocate for the environment was obviously expanding quite a bit. He touches on subjects like social media - which has connected him to a like-minded community (good), but has also heaped judgments and criticisms upon him at times (bad). He also describes public speaking events and protests that he has been involved in - always asking of himself, what more can he do. He has an exceptionally strong sense of personal mission, but he also has a keen awareness of both the upsides and downsides of being a 'voice' for his cause, and he's not unaware of his own ego.
Altogether, it's an illuminating read in more than one important area. I will be watching his progress with much interest. ...more
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