Clarity

I had one of those weird flashes of clarity yesterday. You know what I mean, I'm sure. A sudden awareness of how everything fits together.

I was looking out the window at work - watching the students playing frisbee and studying outside while the sounds of an impromptu drum circle accompanied them - and suddenly I had this moment. For half a second our relationship to the earth and sky became clear. Our lives as we live them today seemed to suddenly not fit in the picture. I was aware of how, well, weird human existence is these days. We obsess over work and possessions and status and image and money. We zoom around in big, earth-killing machines no matter how small the distance. We sit at desks and hardly move at all for hours and hours at a time when our bodies are made for motion and activity. We eat prepackaged and fast food that contains "synthetic" ingredients all for the sake of convenience, while the wrappers generate a whole lot of garbage that the earth has to somehow suck up. We worry about what society will think of us if we wear orange socks with bright green pants.

It's all very odd when you stop and think about what we do in this life we lead. I wish we could do less hurrying and worrying and more living and loving. More walking and biking and less driving and sitting. More outside and less inside. Fewer Hummers and more hybrids. More organic and less manufactured. And definitely more orange socks. Definitely.

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Neil is getting photos back today from his recent tour to South Dakota and Wyoming. I think he is planning on posting a little very soon! Excitement!