I'm still trying to figure out what I want this blog to be. I have a lot of ideas, avenues to travel other than the standard trip reportage that comprises things now. Part of it is that I like to think of myself as a quiet guy who prefers listening over talking. Part of it is the space we are operating in. I sometimes feel the internet, much like corporate media in the forms of radio and TV does more harm than good. Marshal McLuhan told us that the medium is the message, and maybe good ideas and inspiration can only be found in printed form. Im still not sure and its something I'm still trying to work out. Mostly I am struggling with things such as the gutter level quality of our current dialogue, the commercialization of Wilderness, the thin line between arrogance and inspiration we all seem to walk, and the purity of our aspirations in general. Needless to say, I'm constantly questioning not only the intended purpose of the web but its utility as well.
Occasionally I find something that I identify with on a very deep level. I'd say this happens for me once maybe twice a year. Perhaps its because I don't spend enough time looking but I believe that this type of content has a way of making its way to the intended audience. I'd like to tip my hat to the group of people who could see there was a story here before it became a beautifully produced final product, the energy they put into it and the way they crafted it. Supplying inspiration is a wonderful achievement and it does the soul good to know that branded content can be elevated to this level.
Wallace Stegner once wrote “The Utah deserts and plateaus and canyons are not a country of big returns, but a country of spiritual healing. . . . We depend upon them increasingly for relief from the termite life we have created.”
In my early 30's I have developed a curious habit. I have begun looking around, taking stock of people in my life by choice and by circumstance. I look at some, those people two to three decades removed from my current station and think about the... decisions that I could or could not make in order to end up traveling a similar path. When doing so I seem to constantly be probing for some (often elusive) sense of fulfillment. Life is a string of choices. Experience and relationships the calculus of now. Where you end up, the summation of a host of decisions. I know a few people who are immensely satisfied in late middle age and I know many who, for whatever reason, are not. A few days back I stumbled onto a story of a guy who, in celebration of his 60th birthday, decided to go for a big walk with his dog Genghis Khan. The vast lonely expanse they travel is a chunk of earth that I am familiar with, one that moves something inside me in a way that has no peer. In this video I see a model for a way of living I can identify with some thirty years from now. Take 10 minutes, it will make your day better, I promise.