--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I am leaving this tower and returning…" description: "\"“I am leaving this tower and returning home. When I speak with family, and comments are always the same, 'Won't you be glad to get back to the real wor..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1d/terry-tempest-williams-835_family_i-am-leaving-this-tower-and-returning-ho_3139074.jpg" --- # I am leaving this tower and returning home. When I speak… ![“I am leaving this tower and returning home. When I speak with family, and comments are always the same, 'Won't you be glad to get back to the real world?' This is my question after two weeks of time, only two weeks, spent with prairie dogs, 'What is real?' What is real? These prairie dogs and the…” quote by Terry Tempest Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1d/terry-tempest-williams-835_family_i-am-leaving-this-tower-and-returning-ho_3139074.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1d/terry-tempest-williams-835_family_i-am-leaving-this-tower-and-returning-ho_3139074.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1d/terry-tempest-williams-835_family_i-am-leaving-this-tower-and-returning-ho_3139074.jpg) > ““I am leaving this tower and returning home. When I speak with family, and comments are always the same, 'Won't you be glad to get back to the real world?' This is my question after two weeks of time, only two weeks, spent with prairie dogs, 'What is real?' What is real? These prairie dogs and the lives they live and have adapted to in grassland communities over time, deep time? What is real? A gravel pit adjacent to one of the last remaining protected prairie dog colonies in the world? A corral where cowboys in an honest day's work saddle up horses with prairie dogs under hoof for visitors to ride in Bryce Canyon National Park? What is real? Two planes slamming into the World Trade Center and the wake of fear that has never stopped in this endless war of terror? What is real? Forgiveness or revenge and the mounting deaths of thousands of human beings as America wages war in Afghanistan and Iraq? What is real? Steve's recurrence of lymphoma? A closet full of shoes? Making love? Making money? Making right with the world with the smallest of unseen gestures? How do we wish to live And with whom? What is real to me are these prairie dogs facing the sun each morning and evening in the midst of man-made chaos. What is real to me are the consequences of cruelty. What is real to me are the concentric circles of compassion and its capacity to bring about change. What is real to me is the power of our awareness when we are focused on something beyond ourselves. It is a shaft of light shining in a dark corner. Our ability to shift our perceptions and seek creative alternatives to the conundrums of modernity is in direct proportion to our empathy. Can we imagine, witness, and ultimately feel the suffering of another.”” [Terry Tempest Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-tempest-williams/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author questions what constitutes reality amidst personal, natural, and global turmoil, emphasizing empathy and perception shifts. **In simple terms:** She wonders what is truly real and stresses empathy. Key Takeaway Cultivate empathy to reinterpret reality. Themes reality empathy environment war health Mood reflective somber Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal loss - environmental activism - war reporting - medical challenges Key Concepts philosophical psychological ecological social critique Questions to Reflect On - How does empathy reshape your view of reality? - What actions arise from recognizing shared suffering? A Different Perspective Complexity of reality can overwhelm. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dogs Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogs-real-3688889/) [Family](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/family/) [Making love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/making-love/) [Making money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/making-money/) [Money Making](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money-making/) [National park](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/national-park/) [Prairie Dog](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prairie-dog-359160/) [Prairie Dogs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prairie-dogs-1979536/) [Real Prairie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-prairie-576698/) [Real Real](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-real/) [Real world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/real-world/) [Returning home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/returning-home/) [World trade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-trade/) [World trade center](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-trade-center/) ## Related quotes > [If you take away all the prairie dogs, there will be no one to cry for the rain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-tempest-williams/if-you-take-away-all-the-prairie-dogs-there-will-be-no-one-to-cry-for/) [Terry Tempest Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-tempest-williams/) > [“The story of the Utah prairie dog is the story of the range of our compassion. 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When I speak with family, and comments are always the same, 'Won't you be glad to get back to the real world?' This is my question after two weeks of time, only two weeks, spent with prairie dogs, 'What is real?' What is real? These prairie dogs and the lives they live and have adapted to in grassland communities over time, deep time? What is real? A gravel pit adjacent to one of the last remaining protected prairie dog colonies in the world? A corral where cowboys in an honest day's work saddle up horses with prairie dogs under hoof for visitors to ride in Bryce Canyon National Park? What is real? Two planes slamming into the World Trade Center and the wake of fear that has never stopped in this endless war of terror? What is real? Forgiveness or revenge and the mounting deaths of thousands of human beings as America wages war in Afghanistan and Iraq? What is real? Steve's recurrence of lymphoma? A closet full of shoes? Making love? Making money? Making right with the world with the smallest of unseen gestures? How do we wish to live And with whom? What is real to me are these prairie dogs facing the sun each morning and evening in the midst of man-made chaos. What is real to me are the consequences of cruelty. What is real to me are the concentric circles of compassion and its capacity to bring about change. What is real to me is the power of our awareness when we are focused on something beyond ourselves. It is a shaft of light shining in a dark corner. Our ability to shift our perceptions and seek creative alternatives to the conundrums of modernity is in direct proportion to our empathy. 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