A Square World
Variety and wonder
by Brian Radcliffe
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To encourage us to consider the variety and wonder of the natural world.
Preparation and materials
- Optional: you may wish to use Psalm 65 during the ‘Time for reflection’ part of the assembly. It is available at: https://tinyurl.com/mstfkjjk
Assembly
- Have you ever noticed how our lives are governed by right angles? So many objects that we use and view are either squares or rectangles.
Let me use the word ‘square’ as a form of shorthand. We live in square houses, divided into square rooms full of square boxes, drawers and cupboards, and sit at square tables. We look at square screens or read square books. We look out of square windows at square gardens or yards with square walls or fences. We walk on square pavements, and we open square gates and doors. We’ve gone square mad! - It’s said that there are no squares in the natural world, and no totally straight lines either. I wonder if this is true. There’s only one way to find out: get out into the wild and see what it shows us.
- Much has been written about the benefits of walking in the wild. For a start, the exercise is good for us. It’s also useful to take a break from the media-driven world of school, entertainment and home. It helps to give a balance.
Some people say that walking in the wild is like bathing in oxygen. Even the effect of colours and movement in the sky, trees and plants can be soothing. It might also be intriguing, looking at the shapes, puzzling about the lack of squares and straight lines.
Time for reflection
The problem is that most of us don’t get into the wild very often. Competing temptations can be strong: people to meet, tasks to complete, squares to look at. Let’s allow this assembly to encourage us to spend a little time doing so.
We don’t need to take a long journey. The wild is all around us if we look for it, even in towns and cities. How many of us have a garden? How many of us live within walking distance of a park, fishing pond, canal or river? Have we visited any of the city gardens such as the temporary ‘sky garden’ at Castlefield Viaduct in Manchester? What about community allotments, where anyone can get their hands dirty for a few hours? Graveyards are also full of wildlife, as are many pocket parks on street corners. The wild is everywhere!
What might we see? Birdlife can be spectacular. Sparrowhawks and peregrine falcons are on the hunt. Swifts are careering at breakneck speeds. Robins and wrens set up a warning chorus as we approach. Then, there are foxes, hedgehogs and squirrels, even in the city centre at dawn and dusk. Perhaps the most fascinating is insect life: such tiny creatures, yet so prolific and energetic. And that’s without mentioning the flowers, fruit and veg.
One of the songs in the Bible encourages people to stand in awe of the great things that God has done. Some of us may not believe in God, but to go out into the wild and discover the sheer variety and splendour of the natural world, especially in the early summer, is bound to do us good.
Perhaps while you’re there, you could search for some squares and straight lines. You never know: you could prove me wrong about them not appearing in the natural world!
Song/music
‘What a wonderful world’ by the Ramones, available at: https://youtu.be/wRMrAQuccEo (2.25 minutes long)
Extension activities
- Encourage the students to go out into the natural world and see if they can find examples of true squares and straight lines.
Ask them to bring in samples and photographs, and then examine these as a group, analyzing the shapes.
(The real aim of this exercise is to get students out into the natural world to give it a closer look!)
