A couple of people have commented that I'm rather haphazard about writing for my blog. They are right, of course, but the thing is I try to do it as something genuinely strikes me that I feel may be worth sharing. I don't want it to be a case of just writing any old thing in order to habitually fill some space. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
This morning when I got up and checked the gage, it was 21 degrees outside. Now there's some inspiration for you! "The times, they are a changin,'" The past few times that we have been out hiking, we've walked a couple meadow-like fields at Fireman's Eddy. The experience for Chris and me as well as our faithful pup, Faye, has been exhilarating.
The tinge of fall colors and the freshness of the air, the vegetation and the wildlife (Chris almost stepped on a quail), have been like a psalm written by nature itself.
I've always been a bit of a romanticist, more inclined toward feelings than intellect; more appreciative of inspiration than perspiration (not that I want to spend 40 years in a cave contemplating my life.) I tend to be more interested in how something strikes me rather than why it strikes me in a particular way. All of that, of course, is a good reason why I would not have been a very good engineer or financial wizard.
But that leads me to say that that is the reason we need everybody. Oh, we could very well do without mean-spirited, egotistical, narcissistic, and selfish people, and above all, most certainly those whom we consider to be evil. But the way life works best is when all of us follow our own inclinations for contributing to the common good. i.e.-There isn't one universal model that we are all supposed to duplicate--one-single perfect image of a human being.
It's hard, though, because the world is always lifting up examples of the so-called ideal person, either in physique or beauty or intelligence. How sad! The entertainment industry thrives on that; ad agencies are based on that; even religions have an element of it in making judgments as to who is more righteous than whom.
But to me, the truth is that we need one another. I'm not going to make a list here because it would be too long and I also wouldn't want to leave anybody out. The point is that anything anybody does that makes the world a better place, a more loving place, a more beautiful place, whether on the small or grand scale is exactly the way it's supposed to be.
I suppose that's what taking those hikes in the meadow or mountain trail or deep in the Pinelands represents for me. Here is nature doing it's thing. The trees aren't in competition with the bushes nor the streams with the river nor the quails with the wild geese. They are all doing what they do best--being themselves. And as a result, they write the perfect psalm.
