There's a problem?
Sure... You've heard 'em... "We went from the Maritimes to the Grand Canyon. We saw the Keyes and Glacier National Park. We saw the dead white guys carved into the mountains of South Dakota and the Beaches of Oregon. We've seen what there was to see... so we left the road."
Only... They is WRONG girls an' boys. They burned a lot of fuel and rubbed a lot of rubber off the tires... but they didn't SEE a damn thing! They were so busy rackin' up miles, and puttin' check marks on the "bucket list"... that they passed right on by ten times more than they ever put in front of their eyes... or their minds...
Ever'body knows how much I admire Zion, Glacier and the Washington/Oregon Coast... but... those places are Easy. They take no conscious effort to see... Hell, they Stun you. The beauty and spirit of that country jumps out at you and hollers; HERE I AM! You can't miss it.
What takes paying deliberate attention are those places in between. The places we Live for the long term. Their treasure is only... in a way... hidden. You have to search for it. The beauty and spirit are still there. It's just as vibrant and soul filling. And like "regular" solid people, it's not the "Flash" that can become; "I've been there, done that." The sort of beauty I'm speakin' of is the sort that endures... somewhere deep inside, in the places you can't put into words... it Lives.
It just doesn't reach out and slap you like in the Tourist Meccas. You just can't be lazy and see it. You have to want it. You have to look for it.
Where ever you are the spirit of Life is all around you... only it's not that noisy sort that almost overpowers and stuns your senses like in the Crown Jewels of Yosemite, Yellowstone, Zion, Glacier... It's quiet and it whispers...
and think for a minute... if all the boondockers that are right this minute... drifting around the west, collected up in some great Free Mans Rendezvous in Zion or Yosemite... or any of the handful of Gorgeous spots... those places, and the Joy we get from them, would disappear under the weight of Humanity...
Plus... We'd be right back in that same prison we worked so hard to escape... living many weeks of the year for our too short pilgrimage to our Holy spots... and living the rest of the time in that same grey existence.
Seems to me... a better way is to realize that there are Living Jewels around us... everywhere... all the time.
Here in this Arizona desert, that to so many seems stark and bleak, some folks never leave their rigs. Or when they do, all they do is drive into Q to have a dollar Taco at the local greasy spoon and then drive back home after dark. They MISS most of the beauty of this place... and likely most of the places they wander through. The folks that never even leave town miss it All.
Every where, in every direction, if you just open your eyes to it... here or in Nevada, Montana, Idaho, Oregon... everywhere... from the high mountain peaks to the lowest of desert basins... to the waves crashing against some lonely beach... the spirit speaks to a man, free on the earth... IF ... He'll open his ears... and his eyes... and listen.
We were walking last evening... and I mentioned that it's kinda hard to find "New" photographs... after having pictured this place for a few winters now... and I had to give myself a mental SLAP! I was falling into the same trap I warn others about... That's why it takes deliberate effort...
I need to step out at different times of the day, in different moods, heading off toward new points of the compass... to see my surroundings from different angles in different weather... to learn all the personalities of this living land I am blessed to live on...
Just a Man ~ Free on the Earth.
All around me are always more mysteries to keep my old brain cogitatin' and wonderin'... and if I should run out of those... all I have to do is look Up...
Hunting the Hidden Jewels Others Pass By
Brian
9 comments:
You are so right. One must stop and smell the roses along the way. Love the photos. Especially the sunset one with the distant mountains.
I love those layers of mountains... each a slightly different shade of purple. Reminds me of growing up in Az.
Box Canyon Mark
Spectacular pictures of those mountains. I've always said living in Nevada that most people fly right through on the highways that are built in the valleys for the most part. But up in those hills and mountains, sometimes up a paved or gravel road only a couple of miles are places that will knock your socks off.
So right! Don't be so focused on where you are going that you miss all the in between.
Your photos of the mountains layered like that are beautiful. Different colors. Really nice.
You're right, just looking out my window at all the living things, watching for critters, everything between me and the mountains in the distance - it changes all the time, even from the same window. I think some people just stop noticing. I hope I never do.
Very nice post. I am that guy. I don't wanna be, but it's something I've got to work on.
I have to agree with you that the real treasures are in front of us if will just slow down and enjoy what is around us, whether it be the light reflecting off a distant mountin or offf a dew drop hanging off a flower. Don't forget the treasures we find in people, the new people we meet along lfe's journey and the friendships that have endured the test of time. It is the people that I treasure even more than the beauty i see all around me
This is actually Brian jacking up Judy's computer teaching her how to rip and tear on bloggers in the comment boxes!
Very well said. Love the AZ desert and the photos!!
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