Indeed

Madou Sidiki Diabate: Amarrass Desert Music Festival...11/27/11 (1)

Madou Sidiki Diabate: Amarrass Desert Music Festival...11/27/11 (2)

As Rockwell Kent
said in his Alaskan journal,
The wonder of wilderness
was its tranquility.
I wish I had said that first.
It grasps the salient point:
not just tranquility,
but wonder at tranquility.
Wilderness is a surprise.
We were raised on
nature films that
converted nature into
thrilling entertainment.
We still expect to find
predators lurking
everywhere in the wildness,
and danger and excitement.
But instead we find
tranquility. And wonder at it.

Interesting word, wonder.
From Old English wundrain:
to be affected with astonishment. Its antonyms name the most pervasive symptoms of modern life: indifference, boredom, ennui. The dictionary strains to explain wonder, mentioning awe, astonishment, marvel, miracle, wizardry, bewilderment (note the wild in bewilderment). Finally it offers this: Far superior to anything formerly recognized or foreseen.

Indeed.

--Jack Turner
Travels in the Greater Yellowstone