seek adventure

Rise free from care before the dawn and seek adventures. 

     Henry David Thoreau

I have been thinking on this. The first time I heard the quote was on an old friend's facebook page, a couple of years ago. I think that that's what inspired me to look into Thoreau's works. I won't lie and say that each page holds staggering truths for me... but some of them do, and his mentality and the attitude he has toward life click deep down with how I feel. Central Massachusetts, as I am sure it is with other places around the country, did not heed Thoreau's many warnings. We are a growing, work focused community with mini-mansions popping up ten feet from each other all around town. We base our success on what kind of car we drive... Is it a Volvo? An Escalade? Are you part of a "good" neighborhood? At times, I truly wonder how I ended up here. I have lived in places that weren't like this at all. I lived only a few miles away, in Western Mass, where a person's success was not nearly measured by their car and house. Some of the most amazing Professors tooled around in beat up mini-cars and lived in 50's style ranchs. Still, at least in Rutland, there are woods... real woods... that are deep and still. Thank God.

There are a couple of sentiments in the quote above that have almost completely lost their meaning. 

"Free from care."
 Lets all just stop and think about being "free from care." When Thoreau said it, he actually meant it. Don't hinder yourselves with houses. Don't tie yourselves down with burden. Travel where you want, when you want for the purpose you want. Keep life simple and live care free. I am so far away from living free from care. My life is a series of rebounding off of worries and struggling to remain floating in a sea of obligations. I know, because I know the difference. I have a rare and beautiful opportunity to glimpse just a small window into what Thoreau was talking about. I have summer vacation. It isn't complete... not nearly. But when school ends, so does my job. True, I am not paid during the summer. True, I still have every other obligation and financial burden to uphold. And yet, when that last class ends... there is an amazing transformation that takes place in me. It takes a couple of weeks, but I start to feel.... free. Light. Everything slows down and the days open up in front of me. It is a gift that I am not willing to let go of for social pressure. I still have obligations, but I see greater obligation to being with my kids in a real and purposeful way, and to teaching them that life, in responsibility alone, should be devoted to finance. Everything else, which is most of everything, should be devoted to their souls. And I mean no cliche' in that.

"Adventure." 
I was walking this morning and I saw what I thought was a black bear hunched over in the brush beside the road. My heart rate went up... I slowed my pace, brought up my camera, but it was only a "bear-shaped stump." Later, I did manage to sneak up on this blue heron though. It got me thinking about adventure. In our nearly completely explored world, it

has become, for most, only a quaint idea that can be relegated to a "Disney World" like experience. Everything is manicured and taken care of. Our big surprises now come in the form of scripted reality TV shows that expose for the public the drama of someone's overly archetypal lifestyle. Is that really all there is? Is there more out there for us? Do we have to do our rock climbing in Gyms that have rubberized plastic handholds and nothing at the top of the cliff? I am not speaking as one condescending from great heights here. I am speaking as one searching for that spark of reality... real life. I think it may come down to a matter of time. We don't have a lot of it, so we are hesitant to gamble it on something that may be fruitless. With our two or three weeks of precious vacation time, we find ourselves funneled into vacations that get to the main point. We go to Paris to visit the Eiffel Tower. We don't have time to wander the streets of its suburbs, because we need to get in and out in such a short time. Even on a daily basis... this rush propels us forward. right down to our relationships... who has time to go over a friend's house for no reason at all... just to be there. We are missing something in our rush. Obligation has taken hold and we are frantically throwing our lives on its altar. This, I think, is Thoreau's chiefest warning... at least in the beginning of his master work "Walden." Simplify simplify and head out "free from care before the dawn...................... and seek adventures. 

db