Mucus extraction,

with a touch of hapless arrogance.

Pride and prejudice for the crown

and in the midst of patience,

walk to the edge.

Look down.

Extrapolating tendons,

bona fide friends and

congruent histograms

of our long lost pretendin's.

Watch out for crows nest

excrement retrieval.

Dive head first,

Fly.

Wait.

OOPS.

Another wilderness post

For the last couple months I have been enthralled in Wilderness and the American Mind by Professor Roderick Nash. The book explores how attitudes toward wilderness have changed throughout the years, starting when Europeans first set foot on American soil and working its way to modern times (3rd edition was completed in 1982). With less than 50 pages to go, Nash has helped me understand more about my own perceptions and what I should be doing about it. The opening chapters were especially enlightening and I'll briefly summarize the pieces that stood out.

As with most issues during colonial times, wilderness was viewed from a religious perspective. Wild country was an intimidating and sinister entity neccessary of being conquered. The validation for this claim was taken straight from scripture and pioneers forged the frontier with one thing in mind: domination. While the west was being settled, something else was happening across the Atlantic. As Europe moved into the Age of Enlightenment, the hostile view of a cursed and ungodly wilderness began to soften. Romantics suggested a sublime association with God and wild nature and turned to the uncultivated, uncivilized forests for inspiration. With the help of great minds such as Henry David Thoreau, the philosophy of transcendentalism was introduced and a genuine appreciation of nature began to arise. Americans began to feel that they had something special that Europeans did not: wild country...and lots of it. They also noticed the unending destruction of America's forests and a call for preservation was imminent. Between the late 1800's and mid 1900's significant legislation passed that fortified the preservation of America's wilderness.

There still exists an uneasiness felt in regards to the wild. One of Thoureau's conclusion about wilderness is that there must be a balance between civilization and our primitive instincts. Although the deeply respected John Muir had different feelings, I cannot agree with it more. Too much of city life has obvious drains on the human spirit. But too much wilderness will limit human progress , both culturally and mentally. Complete isolation from society will do nothing for compassion and empathy.

While I have yet to finish reading this book I know that it will leave some important issues out. The third edition was completed in 1982, giving two and a half decades of wilderness development left undiscussed. I know that the battle for wilderness preservation is in no way over. This is readily apparent from Californias recent legislative proposal to close over 100 state parks. Luckily this daunting threat was not the end result of the California budget problem, but it came dangerously close. My fascination with this text has encouraged me to get involved with the process. I firmly believe that the preservation of wilderness is essential to the progress of mankind and we can not let this generation take that away from those who follow.

kick out the jams

"Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect some day to suffer vertigo. What is vergigo? Fear of falling? Then why do we feel it even when the observation tower comes equipped with a sturdy handrail? No, vertigo is something other than the fear of falling. It is the voice of the emptiness below us which tempts and lures us, it is the desire to fall, against which, terrified, we defend ourselves."

Milan Kundera

Adventures of Archie...continued

Looking over the prep table, Archie throws four patties on the burner. They instantly explode in a storm of grease and shrivel down to half their size. He grabs the buns and reaches for the mayonaise spatula. Then he remembers, "no mayonaise. STAT!" Next to the mayo tub is the mustard dispenser. He grabs the bottom half of a bun, places it under the spigot and pushes down on the pump. His hand slips off due to the grease explosion that somehow made it all the way to the mustard bin. In the messy process he knocks a cutting knife off the counter which slices his shin open before hitting the ground. "How convenient," he thought. He grabs the other half of the bun and rubs it across his shin. He holds it there for a few seconds in order to stop the bleeding and then moves on to the ketchup dispenser. By now the meat has concluded its 25 second cooking process and the hamburgers are ready to be wrapped. "Two cheeseburgers, no mayonaise. STAT!" He remembers the cheese at the last minute and throws one slice on each patty before wrapping up the burgers and placing them in the bag.

He walks up to the serving counter and spots the business man sitting on the bench in front of the microphone. A look of intensity imprinted on the mans face as he focuses on his blackberry. "Order number 42," Archie groans into the microphone. No reaction. "Order number 42, two double cheeseburgers," he says a little louder this time. Without looking up the man replies, "Yea I heard you, hold on a second!" Archie waits patiently for the man to finish tapping away on the mini-me sized keypad of his personal digital assistant. As he gets up and walks over to the counter, Archie puts on as real of a smile as he can manage. Before the man reaches the counter, Archie looks at him and says, "Hey man, here's your burgers. I hope you have a really good day. Really." It was obvious the man was still pondering his latest text message or email and had no intention of any sort of communication with a fast food attendant. So the comment from Archie caught him by surprise. He stumbles out, "Uuhh, thanks. " He looks at the bag and then back at Archie. Eye contact.

"Hey sorry for the attitude, its just been a rough day at the office you know?"

"Oh, I know how it goes," replies Archie. "Dont worry about it."

"Cool, thanks man. And you have a good day too."

The man turns and walks away. Just before he reaches the door, Archie yells out, "HEY! I'M SORRY TOO!"

The man stares blankly for a minute. Then he laughs and shakes his head before proceeding out the door. Archie continues to watch the man walk back toward his car. He stops at the trash can in front of the store and tosses the bag into the waste basket. He's still laughing as he gets in his car and drives away.

Adventures of Archie

"Archie! I need two double cheeseburgers, no mayonaise. STAT!" Archie looked up to see his pudgey faced boss staring at him with a look of discontent. "Like this is a f***ing hospital? If that man across the counter doesnt get his cheeseburgers he's gonna die from pulmonary non-aspiration," Archie thought to himself. "And thats a good thing." The customer of the day was a tall slender man. Well dressed. Fancy shoes. Gel in his hair. Archie guessed that he worked at the business complex around the corner. He saw hundreds of these guys every day. He did his best to give them the benefit of the doubt. Not to group them into the pompous businessman stereotype. But too often he would take their order as a cashier. Waiting for them to make eye contact. Maybe an innocent passing smile. Some sort of gesture that suggested they had a humble soul. Nothing. Well usually nothing. Every once in a while he would come across someone that was kind enough to offer a signal of modest appreciation for his fast food service. And what service it was.

Today he wasnt feeling so good about this particular customer. Archie's boss spun around again, "Archie! I dont want to have to tell you again! Pick it up!"

"Sure thing boss," he replied.

He cruised back to his prep station in a nonchalant kind of manner. He was the only other crew member working today. His manager decided to cut the normal crew down from four to just two because of the "tough times." This meant that the same number of customers per day had to wait about twice as long to get their food.

Archie was under doctor's order not to exert himself too much. His last echocardiagram revealed some irregular heart patterns and he was prescribed meds to counteract the effect. It was all experimental. Archie has had heart problems ever since he can remember. He spent his first four months of life in a neonatal intensive care unit. Since then he has had regular checkups, seen a couple dozen different doctors, and been popping pills on a regular basis.

TO BE CONTINUED....

What it takes to feel

Reality: re-al-i-ty, noun:

1. the state or quality of being real

2. resemblance of what is real

The wikipedia entry for reality says this, "Reality, in everyday usage, means the state of things as they really exist. In a sense, it is what is real."

If asked to define reality, I think most people might have a tough time. And the answers you might recieve would be wide and varied. For me the words that come to mind are individualism, struggle, subjectivism, people, emotion, perception. And when I try to define my own reality I'm not really sure where to start.

I am amazed at what it takes for people, including myself, to recognize and appreciate the foundations that make up our lives. The most important things to us are usually the same things that we take for granted. They go unnoticed until something drastic happens, leaving us wide eyed in disbelief. There are examples all around us, of people making mistakes and trying to warn others not to do the same. A smoker that lost their esophagus. A gangbanger that spent 20 years in prison. An alcoholic that lost their family. They try to warn us, but it never really sinks in. Usually the thoughts are, "that'll never happen to me" or "that doesnt really apply to my life." We cannot learn from mistakes unless we create them ourselves. It would be much easier to look at the people that surround us, listen to what they say and heed the warnings that we hear or dont hear. I'm not sure if its a matter of arrogance or ignorance, but that doesn't work for me. I cannot really understand a situation until I experience the events first hand. And only when I have been caught, trapped or hit bottom of one of life's many pitfalls, do I really get it. We must be broken before we can be mended.

Who are the people you love? Try and imagine of those people were no longer there. Now take that feeling and multiply it by 100. Because that might give you a glimpse of what it will feel like when they really are gone. Dont take your life for granted. Because the reality is, these things WILL happen to you.