January 7, 2004 05:04 | Bits

Promise

Edward Abbey:

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 there. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, 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, 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 desk-bound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards.
Comments

Right on! (Although, unfortunately, I tend to be pretty deskbound these days...)


see now thats what im talkin about...later, im goin outside.


Nice. One of my favorite writers, Abbey. Desert Solitaire was life changing for me, in some underlying structural way that I'm still trying to get a handle on 20 yrs later. Ever spend time in Utah redrock country Boris?


very good advice. and a wicked quote. thanks for finding it Boris... It's good to read things like that once in a while and remind yourself that you aren't the only one who wants to shout "get me outta here!"