Nicholas Gunnell

GCU 394

Professor Kevin McHugh

April 16, 2017

The Hare and Sunflower

It’s not every day that one can spend a few minutes outside without breaking into

a sweat in Arizona heat. That being said, I decided to start my walk on the early morning

April 13, 2017 at around 6:30am. The sun was above the horizon and was just beginning

to shine, its heavy rays on the unorganized collection of houses surrounding my home.

As I began my walk, my first path brought me through a large patch of dirt. The dirt was

incredibly silty, so I decided to scoop up a mound of dirt in my hands. Amazingly, the

dirt was cold to the touch, a stark contrast to the deep heat being sent down from the

angry sun. I gently placed the dirt back down, not wanting to unsettle the dirt and have

it seep into my clothes, and moved on down the newly paved asphalt road that stretched

down our street leading to the main highway and attempted to clear my mind as I

sought to find something that stood out to me. Very little color stretched beyond my

vision, but rich browns and mesquite greens galloped over the scenery as a small gust of

dry wind kicked up loose dirt sending it up to dissipate in the air.

I continued my stroll about half a mile down when I saw something that caught

my eye, something I pass almost every day but never noticed, a small patch of

successfully bloomed sunflowers, no taller than 6 feet, tucked between two withered

trees, slightly shading the delicate petals. I paused and looked at the details of these five

flowers. They intertwined effortlessly with each other and emitted a faint smell of fresh

cut grass. The pedals were a darker hue of yellow and their stems a vibrant green, much
different than the green seen across Arizona. As I stared at the flowers, my mind was

caught up in the hidden beauty within the realm of Arizona deserts. Plants that require

little water and survive in intense heat are rarely to be called beautiful by common

society but sunflowers truly are one of the most beautiful plants that are bountiful in

this part of southern Arizona.

I pressed onward down the road and proceeded through a small section of road

that had not yet been laid with asphalt. There I stopped at the sight of two desert hares

that frequent neighbors’ yards and spook unsuspecting dogs to bark in the middle of the

night. They were looking at each other and one happened to turn its head and stare at

me. A minute passed as the hare seemed to decide what his next move was going to be.

He decided that I was not worth his time and hopped off under a chained fence, closely

followed by his partner. I could not remember the last time that my brothers and I

would go out on the hunt for hares to catch them just to release them back into the wild.

Looking back on those times, I realized how stupid that was because we could have

gotten some kind of disease from a bite or just their fur alone. It was now almost

8:30am and the sun was high above the trees and roofs and heating the surface more

and more every second.

I turned back, I had walked almost two miles in thought and amazingly did not

feel tired at all, I felt more relaxed, a sense of calm had enveloped me as I lost myself in

the natural beauty hidden amongst the progression of man. I returned home a little after

9:10am and happily entered my home after a small meeting with the beauty of untamed

nature.