As some of you are aware I make it a habit to, from time to time, visit the wild places of the world. Until recently I was satisfied simply with the fact that this was an activity that I enjoyed doing, but have lately come to think some more of it. Yesterday I took a good friend out on a hike to show him some places of interest I have found over time. I know he's a good friend because he suffered through some pretty rugged terrain, rising temperatures, long hills, and killer salamanders without a word of complaint. We even pulled of a nice attack on the northern border of Fort Indiantown Gap. An attack that went unanswered. Homeland Security my butt. Anyway, this trip was unique in that I returned to spots previously visited, something that I never do unless I am showing them to someone else. Mostly my adventures consist of finding places I have never seen before, a trend that leads to larger and larger undertakings. I noticed yesterday that I did not get the same thrill from these old spots as I did when I visited them for the first time. Initially I felt that this said something about me. Maybe my adventures represented some greater searching in my life. As I thought about it some more I realized that this tendency wasn't limited to me, but was a theme in human nature. We, as mankind, are constantly searching for something new and exciting. Our initial visit to the moon was proclaimed with much grandeur, but after several visits became more of a ho-hum affair, and eventually we gave up on it altogether. Now we want to go to Mars. It seems that once we have done something, it has simply been done and we need to move on. It isn't that these tasks are no longer difficult, our jaunt through the woods yesterday was certainly not easy, but merely that they are no longer new. If you don't believe me simply try to find funding for an expedition to the North Pole or the top of Everest. If you don't plan to do it faster or harder than ever before than you better not plan on doing it at all. Anyway, these are just my thoughts on the matter and it had been awhile since I yammered on in a post. Keep checking as I am working on Part I of a multi-phase blog epic. I'll keep you posted.
PS. Does anyone elso find it funny that blogger's spell check won't accept the word "blog?"
1 comment:
In all seriousness, a very engaging and sincere post --- I do think that's something of humanity's curse; we have to keep exploring because we lose that sense of wonder after time. I'm sure the people who live near the Grand Canyon say at a point "its just a big hole" or "yeah...there's the canyon"...
Still, it was a great day and hike; there are a couple places in Maryland I've heard people rave about, so its worth a shot.
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