Sometimes a fella could do with a few less challenges and a few more soft miles! ;)
But then... them soft miles would get to be awful boring... knowin' that Nothing was gonna change. An unending future of clear skies and smooth roads... yech! A tyranny of good times. :)
So... what're the challenges of livin' High Wide and Handsome... puttin' it in the wind and goin' down the road?
Ahhh... just name name one; and you'll come on to it somewhere along the way. Broken parts, scarcity of fuel, bad roads and dirty names...bone weary and no place to stop...
They come along and you deal with 'em. The more of 'em you work past, the better you get at it and the challenges begin to get pretty routine... as in... been there done that... gimmee something new!
I know... for sure and for certain, that whatever comes at me in the physical world, I can deal with it. Always have... and in the world that stands in front of my eyes... I always will.
So... in the interest of keepin' it real... and keepin' my head in the game I been wonderin' 'bout new challenges. Challenges that actually do something new. By that I mean... Finding a task that when... and IF, I come out the other side... It was something that'll have me bein' worth just a lil' bit more as a person, and not just being a person able to fix a flat tire with a toothpick and a can of hairspray! ;)
Those sorts of challenges to me are the sort that you'll find out on the ranges where the vast space tends to have the paradoxical effect of sending your mind to the tight confines inside... pokin' around in all the dark corners of your mind.
Now it's a lot harder than it might sound... 'specially if you're handicapped with a personality that is... shall we say... less than pacific! ;)
Have you ever watched that old cult movie from the '70's, Billy Jack?
There was a line in there, near the end; He was speakin' to his girlfriend, bullet hole in his side, sitting in the church; "My spirit has been in a rage since the day I was born."
Damnation. First time I saw that film I thought they were talkin' right straight directly at me.
I might could sound cheerful and serene here once in a while... and in all honesty, I work hard at that. But... always the "Buts" :) ... BUT, for me to be that-a-way just about any time, it's a piece of deliberate, concentrated work! My natural inclination is to grab stupidity and cruelty by the ears and shake it till its ears fall off.
So... with all that bein' taken into con-side-ur-a-shun... what's a likely challenge that'd keep me busy on my gypsy travels for a while? Maybe even as long as I've got left?
How 'bout seekin' out as a deliberate action... peace and serenity? Now I ain't talkin' 'bout the sweetness and light fantasies of World Peas... ;) I'm talkin' Only 'bout that small little piece of real estate layin' between my ears... and where ever your spirit and soul reside.
I'm thinkin' a worthwhile enterprise would be to find the way to build into an un-peaceful spirit... that old prayer;
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference
The courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference
To get that carved into your own spirit... in such a way that it would be more of an almost automatic response... rather than something you have to keep written on the back of your hand would be a worthwhile goal.
To find that spot, inside your own spirit, where you can retreat when the noise of life becomes too loud. That place where you can look out across the desert and the mountains in your soul... and up at the sparkling stars that fill your mind...
... and let the meaningless din fade away.
Where that respite becomes as automatic as taking a breath. The place that gives you the strength to stand strong; when the pressures to conform, to accept the unacceptable, to even actively work against your own beliefs is pounding and clamoring at the gates.
Kind of like psychological Duck Feathers... The stuff would still fall on you, but it can't find any purchase to hang on. It would all slide slide off. A Teflon soul! How sweet would THAT be?! All the dark things that stain a man's soul being unable to even get a grip! HooUa! :)
Yeah. Some folks are better at it than others. Some were lucky to be born with a more pacific personality. They started with a great advantage! ;)
For others... though their warrior spirits surely don't lack the courage to take on the task... it is an unending struggle for supremacy between their scrappy, fighting nature... and their will and discipline to be otherwise.
Still in the Game
Brian
