Looking back at 2010, I see that so much of what I wrote here was angry. I am still angry about those things, of course. I will still write about them here. But in 2011 I’m going to make sure and put some joy in here as well. Otherwise I’m just renting too much space in my head to the green desert-pavers. Let’s call this my one New Year’s Resolution, voiced in – and inspired by – Cactus Ed’s words quoted below.
Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast… a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards.
Good call.
Words to live by.
I absolutely love this.
Thank you Chris. We all need reminding…...
I think Cactus Ed’s comment makes a lot of sense.
very good words to live by
Hmmm. I don’t have the impression that your words were angry, at least not in a destructive way. I do remember learning a lot, laughing quite often, and returning to find out more. And what’s wrong with that?
Not to overlook joy in your life, that is what makes us tick.