Anne reminds me in her comment to the post immediately preceding this one of one of my favorite lines from Fine Littacher, this one from Ed Abbey:
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 natural land and the west; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still there.
So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizzly, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breath deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for awhile and contemplate the precious stillness, that 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 deskbound men with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: You will outlive the bastards.
I’m no longer sure I agree with those last five words: there are a lot of Bad People younger than I am. And we’ll be sure to discuss Abbey, Berry, and sexual politics in a post to come. But still. Thanks, Anne.
...ok, i must grudgingly agree that it is highly possible that we may not outlive them…but our lives will be a damned sight more rewarding.
I agree with your comment about the last few words. As a matter of fact, when I posted this quote a while back, I left them out. Ed would not be happy with me.
http://puravida.typepad.com/only_connect/2003/09/note_to_self.html
Ed would not be happy with me.