Thursday, May 05, 2005
The Journey...Dec. 24th-26th, 2002
Dec. 24th:
This morning on the bus to school:
It is as though the inhabitants of this city, aware of the dreariness of the grey apartment towers, have searched for every possible niche to plant a garden. Nowhere is there standing alone the misguided shrub, but it is accompanied by many other complimentary green things that edge even the tiniest expanse of well-clipped lawn.
This afternoon:
There is a silence that comes with Winter snowfall that transcends rest and cleanses the soul. A silence where there is no evil thought, no worry, no bitterness--only respite in the gentle serenity of nothingness. Sitting here in Alexandria, far from the snow that falls on the Idaho mountains that I have left behind, I feel once more to my utter amazement, that same quiet peace as I gaze into the flashing lights of the Christmas tree. This tree was brought into this home with so much love and with great care--and to what sacrifice or expense, I'll never know. I only know that when I gaze at these lights on my Christmas present--because, in fact, this is the greatest gift of all gifts that have been given to me--I feel the snow falling gently on my mountain drowning out the sounds of taxi and bus horns in the street below.
Dec 26:
It is difficult to eat so much cheese when one is lactose intolerant. And, lactose intolerance, it seems, is a condition indigenous to America, therefore, no one quite understands exactly what I mean when try to explain myself as more and more cheese is menacingly pushed in my direction at the table.
It is very interesting and not a little bit annoying to me how parents will allow their children to do whatever they please without thinking not only of the image they present to others who must look out for their welfare, but the future of the child himself as an adult, facing the world with a twisted view of reality.
This morning on the bus to school:
It is as though the inhabitants of this city, aware of the dreariness of the grey apartment towers, have searched for every possible niche to plant a garden. Nowhere is there standing alone the misguided shrub, but it is accompanied by many other complimentary green things that edge even the tiniest expanse of well-clipped lawn.
This afternoon:
There is a silence that comes with Winter snowfall that transcends rest and cleanses the soul. A silence where there is no evil thought, no worry, no bitterness--only respite in the gentle serenity of nothingness. Sitting here in Alexandria, far from the snow that falls on the Idaho mountains that I have left behind, I feel once more to my utter amazement, that same quiet peace as I gaze into the flashing lights of the Christmas tree. This tree was brought into this home with so much love and with great care--and to what sacrifice or expense, I'll never know. I only know that when I gaze at these lights on my Christmas present--because, in fact, this is the greatest gift of all gifts that have been given to me--I feel the snow falling gently on my mountain drowning out the sounds of taxi and bus horns in the street below.
Dec 26:
It is difficult to eat so much cheese when one is lactose intolerant. And, lactose intolerance, it seems, is a condition indigenous to America, therefore, no one quite understands exactly what I mean when try to explain myself as more and more cheese is menacingly pushed in my direction at the table.
It is very interesting and not a little bit annoying to me how parents will allow their children to do whatever they please without thinking not only of the image they present to others who must look out for their welfare, but the future of the child himself as an adult, facing the world with a twisted view of reality.
