Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Outlive the Bastards

Billy posted something on facebook that made a memory come flooding back. His quote was "drink deep." Which brought to mind my favorite quote by Edward Abbey:


One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a
reluctant enthusiast... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the
other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not
enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you
can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around
with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the
mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and
lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the
lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your
head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I
promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies,
over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and
their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive
the bastards.
Like may I read Abbey voraciously when I was young. He helped me form many of my attitudes. Especially the curmudgeonly environmentalist and passionate recreationalist. The quote says to me that it is important not to take any of your work too seriously, or better yet to realize that nothing is really that important in the grand scheme of things. Rambling out yonder is just a important as the most important brain surgery because what it is to save life if life cannot be enjoyed?

That is part of the essence of what it means to be a puddin'.

So that is my thought for the day... It feels good to be writing again. I took a long hiatus, who knows when I will post again but I've got a new spark for this blog. I'm gonna make a puddin' attempt at keeping it up.
Thanks for reading.

1 comment:

Annie B. said...

Hey SPencer,
I recently just reread Desert Solitaire....20 years after the first time I read it...recommended by you:) Glad that yer blogging again. Keep Paddling.
Love, Annie B.