Some call it beer, I call it inspiration. After a long hard weekend of work and fun I’m finally breaking out a Molson’s and feeling very inspired. Yesterday, I drove all the way to Squamish to admire the beautiful show-topped mountains in summer and watch the perfect sunset on a clear evening sitting in a park that resembled what the Garden of Eden must’ve looked like in Howe’s Sound. The two-hour round trip on the Sea-to-Sky highway was gruelling, but well worth the effort.
Some live life in their own logical mores that errands have to be run and chores have to be done. But life is so much more than just a series of tasks; life exists for the explicit purpose of being loved. Life well lived is life will loved. To savor every raindrop, to chase every sunset, and to ride every wave. The product of life is the sum of all decisions you make today. How have you decided to live your life?
Some participate in an academically demanding summer program only to spend time in the university library. I choose to be free. There is no conflict between freedom and academic achievement. In fact, I have managed to make the two old enemies work together. All studying must be done in advance as preparation for fun, then visiting different indigenous sites would become an interesting learning experience. Too often, learning anthropology in a classroom lacks depth or perspective. To respect a culture is to learn it, to learn is to understand, and it is very difficult to gain an understanding without at least conversing with natives of that culture.
Some call it love, some call it homesickness. I don’t know which one I have – maybe both, maybe neither. But I feel neither homesick nor comfortable. I can live as if I belong, but I don’t feel like I really belong. There’re the weekend trips to Walmart, Monday night dinners with the family, Friday afternoons out with old friends – then what? There must be more to belonging than just a normal life…there has to be an emotional longing to stay attached to the land and its relationships.
Some call it a website post, some call it creative prose. I call it a drunken rant on a keyboard.
