There are little openings of time in my life when I get such a clear sense of who I would like to be and how I would like my life to work: these can be months long (like when I was living single in Cincinnati in a $350/mo apartment), or might only last a couple of hours. I think I hit a vein of this sort of thing today. Right now, I’m sitting in my local library (I could write a chapter on the greatness of America’s libraries, the most democratic public utility in operation today), trying to suck in data for my upcoming trek to the beautiful southwest, including Colorado and Utah. I was looking through a book on America’s national parks and, while leafing through photos and descriptions of the wild and wonderful in my home country, was moved to the point of a quivering chin. Rich Mullins’ “Calling Out Your Name” leapt to mind, and I wanted to move to Moab for a year. I know I need to create a best-selling book or record first, but still. Anyhow, when I think of who I want to be (and this is ALWAYS who I’ve wanted to be, though I sometimes get too busy to remember)—a read man, a simple guy, a conversationalist and a writer, and a thoughtful enjoyer—it is so very, very simple to see which things are part of that idea (visiting the library, always carrying a fiver in my pocket so I can buy someone else a burrito or a blended coffee, avoiding highways and staying to local roads, NOT avoiding people) and which things are NOT part of that idea (having 6-month long home improvement projects, the teevee, expensive cars, impressive clothes). I would like a year-long media fast (save newsprint and music)--I could easily accomplish this when I move to Moab.
When I first read Travels With Charley, I liked it so much I read it thrice. I never do that. I thought I liked it so much because of Steinbeck’s writing (and that’s there), but I just think it described part of who I am. I should pay more attention in class.
So visit your library, by golly. Read Heyerdahl’s Kon Tiki. Take day trips out of your city (except Totila. Totila lives in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, which is like setting up house in the middle of Yellowstone. You’re fine right there). Prefer inspiration to entertainment. Chew your food. And don’t melt life down into those 5-word sentences like I’m doing right now. I don’t know why I have to sermonize everything. I think it’s good for me (David did it for himself), but I don’t mean to tell you how to do things; it's an old habit. This is really more of a reflexive encouragement, as I learn about me, and learn to live.
