National Parks Documentary

Off and on the last couple days I have been trying to catch the documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea. I usually try and avoid PBS because, well, I don't think the government should be in the business of running a television station. And they seem to do it fairly poorly, from all of the lame fundraising drives I seem to hear and see when I do watch. Anyway...I am getting away from my point.

The documentary on the National Parks is extremely well done. It is unashamedly in support of the development and continued support of National Parks. It weaves a story of the history of people who were a part of the National Park movement, including folks like John Muir, John D. Rockefeller, John Dorr, Steven Mather, and of course Theodore Roosevelt.

What I find interesting, however, is the strong emphasis on the spiritual and in some cases the religious that permeates the documentary. Listen to the movie closely, and you cannot help but notice this. But this is even clearer in the episode titles. Episode 1 is entitled The Scripture of Nature. Morning of Creation is the title of the sixth and final episode of the documentary.

Muir was one, like Lincoln before him, who had a strong classical knowlege of both the Scriptures and Shakespeare. and used both to his advantage in crafting communication about the value of the parks.

Over and over again, we find among those who were the strongest advocates of the National Parks, a sense of the healing properties of those most treasured natural places in the lives of those who were the National Parks strongest advocates. Mather needed the parks for his mental health, Muir for his physical well-being. Again, a spiritual dimension to the documentary, emphasizing the almost supernatural power of natural places to heal and strengthen.

I am eager to see more of this documentary as is goes along. Have any of the rest of you out there been watching?