Saturday, July 23, 2011

Advice from Edward Abbey

I remembered reading this once and stumbled upon it once again. Sage advice for everyone...

"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, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for awhile 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 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."
- Edward Abbey

2 comments:

George Swain said...

What great advice for students, teachers and parents alike! Thanks for placing Abbey's sage advice into an educational context. Now, it's time to go ride my bike.

Jim Eagen said...

Now that is good advice. Tour de France in the books - time to get outside.