Free From Strife

Peaceful, beautiful, calm, free from strife, these are a couple, of many words that to me
describe the Duck Pond. A place to go and let all your troubles be forgotten
and to let your mind just wonder. This place is shared by many and everyone
uses it in a different way, some people go to just think, or to study, sleep, play games, and to hang out with friends. I use this place to relax and think, to me this is the most peaceful beautiful place on campus of The University of New Mexico.

A pond with blue green water, in this pond bright orange and shinning white fish,
and emerald green turtles. On top, ducks and geese that frolic and waddle
around. Around this beautiful pond, green grass hills filled with tall green
trees. There is also a sandy brown rock waterfall that flows into the pond, the
sound of the water flowing is so soothing you just melt away with the sound.
The pond almost wraps around a sitting fixture like an island oasis that
connect on one side with a small yet elegant bridge and on the other by a rocky
gravel pass. In another part of this pond there is a fountain that just shoots
straight up with water and the pitter patter sound of the falling water
droplets. All these things create for the perfect peaceful place. Surrounded by
all the nature just makes you feel one with the world. You can let your mind
just wonder away and have no stress, for those moments you’re at the Duck Pond
could completely change you.

The Duck Pond is located on the campus of The University of New Mexico it was
finished in 1971 and since then has been used by many college students or
residents of New Mexico. This place is different, because out of all the desert
and brown sandy plains this is a small lushes green place. The reasons people used this place back then, is the same reason they still use it to this day.

Now not everyone has enjoyed in the way that I have.
This place is very special to me because it is the place where I decided I was going
to change my outlook on life and how I lived it. The first day after I
graduated high school I went to the duck pond with a couple of friend, but one
friend was my best friend Mariah Vega-Reid. When we first got there everyone
was just lying in the grass looking up into the clouds and Mariah and I decided
to go on a walk and talk. We walked around the duck pond and started talking
about life, and during this talk we were saying how we should appreciate what we have and be happy as much as we possibly can and to not let people take that away from us and all this came to us because we felt just so one with the world. We always knew all of these
things but never applied them to our lives. Also while we walking around we saw
so many different types of people and we decided that we should truly accept
people for whom they are and help people if they need it. Now we didn’t just
say all this and take no action, to this day we do our best to live happily and
treat others well and just be content with what we have in life and not
complain. You might wonder how a place like the duck pond could totally change
someone’s outlook on life. To me it wasn’t just the place it was also where I
was at in my life, but being in such a beautiful peaceful place it made me
really relax and let my mind escape from all the negative the world has in it
and made me truly think about things I never put that much thought into. It
gave me a chance to release my mind and think about what really mattered to me.
I’ve asked two of my co-workers what they like about the duck pond. Daniel said, “I like the duck
pond, because out of the entire desert in New Mexico it’s a nice green area.”
Another person I asked is Thomas and he said, “I like it because the ducks and
turtles, and when it’s cold outside if you find the right spot its harm and you
can take a nap.” Both of these I had mentioned earlier. People love the all the
green the duck pond has and it’s one of the most natural places on campus and
that’s what people are drawn to. It’s also very relaxing you can take a nap
there. Like I said before the duck pond is used by many college students for
many different reasons.
The beauty of this place gets me every time. A place where I found happiness and so many more
emotions, but I only found these feeling by letting my mind go and finding my true thoughts, and desires. If you ever get the chance to see this amazing place I hope you take it. If you love nature and being outside this is a place for you. You’ll feel something from this place if you let yourself. Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. ~Nathaniel Hawthorne