[at-l] another one of those rambling posts about - well - who knows?

[icw at esisnet.com (Clark Wright)]

	After reading the "Volume 10, Issue 8 digest, which came my way on Feb. 
9th, I had a whole lot of good thoughts racing around in my head. 
Here's a stab at capturing a few for fleeting AT-L posterity:

1)  Kelly-Go-everthing - the one word you are looking for to sum up who 
you are is - "ALIVE!"   :)

2)  The job thread has triggered a lot of great thoughts and 
perspectives . . . I REALLY liked the statement that, as with the AT, 
our careers and our lives can only be achieved one step at a time . . . 
and that reminds me of the short hiker's prayer I have taped to the 
b'room mirror:  "Lord, if you will pick them up, I'll put them down" 
[and I would add:  and we can only do that one step at a time! :)]

3)  Martin Fors story about Nick and sinking in the ocean struck a lot 
of chords - first, I think inner peace has to be constantly worked at - 
but as long as yer working at it, yer doin' all right!  Second, one's 
faith choices are, in the end, all about personal perspective - for 
instance, the family's of the other half of the destroyer crew lost 
immediately at sea might have a lot harder time seeing the hand of God 
that awful night!  We all have to struggle with our own, imperfect ideas 
of who God is, and/or whether he/she/it exists, and/or how we want to go 
forward with the next few footsteps of our lives . . . in the end, I 
reckon that our circumstance is like the ever-changing woods in which we 
each have to figure out how best to walk.

4)  Sometimes I really identify with the many statements about the 
dichotomy of our time in the woods "versus" out time back in the 
(so-called) real world . . . for me, as time passes since my long AT 
adventure in 2001, perspective teaches me that I need to reconcile 
myself to the reality that they are not so different, and that life is 
not automatically "better" in a pristine wilderness, or high atop a 
mountain, or in the thin strip of woods that surrounds most of the AT - 
than it is in a city, town or high rise building in New York City . . . 
perhaps we need some of them all . . . and perhaps some among us live a 
more meaningful, awesome, and ALIVE life in a prison cell than others do 
in the most wonderful, natural surroundings, or in the most opulent 
home, etc.  Having said that, I think it is a greatly important 
challenge to save more of those oases and strips of woods, mountains and 
streams in as close to a "natural" condition as we can - for many 
reasons . . . some that are important to me are: (a) because they make 
me smile and feel more alive; (b) they remind us of our past; (c) they 
speak to me of our relationship with our future; and (d) I feel closer 
to God - and, strangely enough, also to my family and loved ones there. 
  But (my personal note to Weary) we all have to figure out a way to 
joyfully engage in such work, so that it does not leave us cynical and 
"weary" of the work, and of life . . . easy to say, but often hard to 
do.  One thing I do know for sure is that when I am down, spending time 
in a natural setting is almost always rejuvenating - how could it not 
be, since, at its most basic level, it always reminds me of LIFE as an 
infinitely varying, always amazing process.  Somewhere, somehow, I think 
that same perspective awaits back at home, and at work, if I can only 
remember how to see it better  . . .

5)  I think, even though Kelly is eloquent in her differing view, that 
it is always important, even while unemployed, to spend some time 
thinking about what kind of job makes you happiest, and fits best with 
who you are . . . that does not mean you put on the burlap sack just 
because your present circumstance is not "there" yet (it never will be 
totally), but it sure might help guide a person along in taking their 
next few steps along the trail of life . . . whatever their present 
circumstance might be. After all, those next few steps are about all we 
can exert even a smidge of "control" over anyway! :)  I still remember 
being paralyzed with uncertainty as I approached college graduation, and 
then again law school graduation - paralyzed over how to find the 
"perfect" job . . . now, almost 25 years later, I like to say that I am 
still trying to figure out who and what I want to be when I grow up, and 
i LIKE being able to honestly say that! :)

enuf musings - I'm off to bed, with a head full of wild thoughts and 
wild lands!

thru-thinker
[clark]