Along For The Ride

I had zero classes today, so I spent the day in the 3rd and 4th classroom. We have "show and tell" every Friday, and every week I find myself laughing to tears. The things they bring to show and tell about are real things, things they are passionate about. Her aluminum that really looks like a seagull diving in for a turtle. His awesome headless man, beheaded by his dog, that stretches across the room. His sweet hot wheels trucks. Her beautiful pink purse with shiny sequins. I admire how passionate they are about the things they love. I long to be that crazy about the little things in my own life. But you can't sense the awesomeness of passion without sometimes sensing the pain of grief. In William P. Young's book The Shack, Mack, the main character has just lost his daughter and is meeting with God:

"I'm afraid of emotions," Mack admitted, a bit perturbed that she [God] seemed to make light of it. "I don't like how they feel. I've hurt others with them and I can't trust them at all. Did you create all of them or only the good ones?'

"Emotions are the colors of the soul; they are spectacular and incredible. When you don't feel, the world becomes dull and colorless."

These kids haven't had the experience that Mack has had. That we've had. I'm not sure at what age or what experiences trigger the fear of emotion. But it's this fear that seems to cause apathy. A lack of passion and motivation. Next weekend the theme for the Pathfinder mountain biking retreat is "Along For The Ride." The idea being that we tend to hop on the band wagon for the ride through life. We put our feet up, grab a few pillows, lay back and watch with apathy. Without getting emotionally involved, without pursuing our dreams, and worse; without acting on a moral imperative. I'm afraid to tackle this serious concern, I've found myself many times simply "along for the ride." 

Comments

  1. Dang this is so good Tina! I have thoughts to talk about sometime this weekend. Call me up! Talk gig! :) But in the meantime, Dylan sent me this quote, and it is pretty good because it talks about being driven, being an enthusiast, and living life intensely, embracing the difficult, and then, taking a break--letting yourself feel the other side of life, too. Here it is:

    "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."--Edward Abbey

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  2. That has always been one of my favourite quotes of all time. You are one of my favourite people of all time.

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