Nature Profile: Outdoor Worship

  • Outdoor enthusiast Jerry Sherman. (photo by Colleen Sherman)

People enjoy nature for all kinds of reasons. In our occasional series about people’s
connections to the environment, producer Kyle Norris spent time with a recreational
hunter and fisher who says that when he spends time in nature he never feels any
pressure:

Transcript

People enjoy nature for all kinds of reasons. In our occasional series about people’s
connections to the environment, producer Kyle Norris spent time with a recreational
hunter and fisher who says that when he spends time in nature he never feels any
pressure:


Jerry Sherman can fix anything, and he’s fixed a few things around my house. He’s
always carrying a coffee cup with him everywhere he goes. And he’s one of those guys
who wears those dark, working men jeans. And cowboy shirts with pearl buttons. We took a
walk the other day and talked a lot about fishing and hunting. I was wondering how he
got into those things:


“When I first started I was a foreman and I was under a tremendous amount of pressure
there’s always somebody in your face all day long. Either talking to somebody or on the
phone. So then, when you get outside and get away from people, you can be in your own
little world, and think whatever you want to think… there’s no body… what do I do here,
what do I do there.”


KN: Jerry has a couple of friends – actually they’re a pair of twins – that he likes to go
fishing with. But a lot of times it’s also about being alone:


“It’s both of those things. There are days that I want to be by myself and just go fish by
myself and there’s days that you feel that need to be with your friends. And that’s when
you want to fish with them. Good example, the other day, when we were fishing we spend
time together then all three of us go off in different directions. That does two things: it gives us
more area to cover, but we all enjoy fishing alone to a certain amount.”


I think Jerry and I feel similarly about nature. It makes us feel calmer. If he’s like me, it’s
kind of about being part of a bigger picture. So I asked him, what he feels when he’s alone in
nature:


“You’re feeling great and there are some times you just sit down and do some praying on
your own sometimes. And you can pray to God in your
own way and nobody’s putting any pressure on you…Well, in a church you kind of feel
like you’re sometimes pressured into praying a certain prayer for somebody, and you’re
out in nature you can pray for whatever you want and nobody’s looking at you or putting
any kind of pressure on you. Does that make any kind of sense? ‘Cause I think everybody
prays to a certain extent. Uh, I just find a rock and sit down and meditate. Maybe talk to
myself.”


Jerry said the last thing he prayed for was his family, which is funny because hunting
and fishing are ways for him to get away from his family:


“Well, there again a lot of the reason you go out there is to kinda relax and unwind. Kind of
retune your body and mind. And when you back to be around your family I’d say you’re
kind of relaxed and out from underneath all this pressure. You kind of get a chance to sort
things out.”


Like Jerry, maybe all of us need a chance to get away from everybody. And spend some
time in nature. And sort things out.


For The Environment Report, I’m Kyle Norris.