Page 1 of 3

I want to be Outside

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 7:14 am
by intrek38
Not sure if this is the place to post this but here it is anyways.
This was written by a woman who just finished hiking the PCT. It kinda hit home and I figured some of you could relate.

Oh, want, want, want…
I don’t want money. I want shelter, food and water.
I don’t want diamonds. I want winking stars and moonlight.
I don’t want a bouquet of cut long-stem roses. I want wildflowers growing along the edge of a path, leading me somewhere. Anywhere.
I don’t want the biggest, latest plasma tv. I want a series of vistas that I work hard to see and stories of what I encountered to get there.
I don’t want a big, cushy recliner. I want the perfect rock to lean against, a divet in the dirt that fits my butt just right and maybe an old decaying log to prop my feet up on.
I don’t want make-up and perfume. I want dirt under my fingernails and the scent of pine, sage and an occasional patch of wild blueberries swirling around me.
I don’t want expensive, aged wine. I want to dip an overly-used bottle into a crisply cold mountain stream or trickling spring.
I don’t want cars and the hum of city life. I want crickets, birds, frogs, wind in the leaves, footsteps on the earth and the silence of the forest.
I don’t want schedules. I want simple. I want what’s there. What’s always been there. It’s simple and it’s all natural. It’s reliable. It’s peaceful, private, and personal. It’s a place to melt every sense I have into one giant organic orb of being. To just be.
I want to be outside. I miss it… I miss being outside. Every day. All day. Moving, seeing, experiencing, struggling, loving, feeling, being as alive as I can feel in the most naturally comfortable way possible.
I don’t want to sleep indoors ever again. I want to feel a bite from the cold air on my face after I peek outside from the warmth of my sleeping bag. Every single day. I want to wake in the darkness of early morning, stars still twinkling above. I want to walk, silently and carefully as the natural light slowly brings my path into view. I want to watch the sky wake up with me in pastel colors and diminishing shadows. I want light breezes to carry me along when I feel tired. I want the flowers to smile at me and the mountains to invite me in. I want to climb into their mysteriousness – to immerse myself in their beautiful secrets. I want to surround myself with the air of desolate nature.
Every single day, I want to wake up outside.
Written by “Toots Magoots” Robbin Grapa

http://somanymiles.wordpress.com/2013/1 ... mment-1119" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Re: I want to be Outside

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 9:40 am
by markskor
Nice sentiment...however,
While a somewhat touching composition, this essay typifies what bothers me most about blog-writing today and society in general...
The "I "mentality gets old fast.
I want this; I don’t want that; I need; I miss, I feel, I peek… I, I, I.
After the 25th “I want”… (I cringed…ARGH!)

IMHO, wilderness writings and all related adventures, especially those occurring in our/(my?) Sierra are best expressed (and more engaging/entertaining) when presented in the third person. After all, HST is about the Sierra, and not about the I.

Just 2¢ worth

Re: I want to be Outside

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 2:25 pm
by dave54
It is not about what you want.

It is about your contentment with what you have.

Re: I want to be Outside

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 7:20 pm
by Wandering Daisy
I think you guys just missed the point. I love that essay! Exactly as I feel when winter comes and backpack season ends. It is about one persons feelings. I feel this too. I in no way took it as a typical "me-generation" blog item. It is simply a comment on REALLY missing the outdoors. When I was that age, I too wanted to be outdoors forever. Now that I am older, I still want to be outdoors a lot, but appreciate a bit of balance - not the materialistic stuff , but family, kids, grandkids, the simple life in town too.

Re: I want to be Outside

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:41 am
by slowhiker
I decided to learn more about the blogger to get perspective on why she wrote her "Want or "Don't want" Now that I know her story, i am amazed at how she has had such a positive impact on those she reaches. She caused me to reexamine how I "choose" to be with my High Sierra experiences and how I can choose to be available for others (not just myself).

Re: I want to be Outside

Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 11:46 am
by SSSdave
Nice poetic piece. One the audience ought not take too literally. If she was making a serious attempt to describe these things regarding herself, they would likely be posed more relatively. However for literary effect works well as presented.

On the serious side most of we people who have been exposed to the modern world can only take so much of the outdoors before we desire some balance with other elements of modern life in this era we have come to enjoy. Like the candy corn I popped in my mouth last night and the NFL game I will watch this afternoon. A person that has only lived a life rurally in the outdoors is far more likely to be solely content with such much like many of our ancestors. But unlike many in our culture, we who have tasted wonders and enjoyment in the physical world of Earth are not ones that can be satisfied solely within the realm of the modern world but rather seek a balance. And within that balance the material goods, wealth, and activities so many others seek can loose much value.

Re: I want to be Outside

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 1:20 am
by papasequoia
markskor wrote:IMHO, wilderness writings and all related adventures, especially those occurring in our/(my?) Sierra are best expressed (and more engaging/entertaining) when presented in the third person. After all, HST is about the Sierra, and not about the I.

Just 2¢ worth
One feels compelled to respectfully disagree. These days one's English professors prohibit the use of the first person singular in any and all essays. While you (not the second person singular you, nor the second person plural you, but rather the third person you, which as we all know is a common substitute for 'one' and can be used in the singular and plural with the same word) may think that this is a good idea, and indeed there are (another English prof no-no btw, the use of there is/there are) some good reasons for it (objective critique) one wonders if the total elimination of the first person singular is always a good thing and indicative of good writing?

On the other hand, I, er, the author of this reply, may have had a couple of glasses of wine before writing this reply late at night and could be feeling a bit persnickety towards English profs and their recent rules for writing which may have gone to far, er, two far, er, too far. So, y'all can feel free to disagree. :D

Re: I want to be Outside

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 6:48 am
by markskor
papasequoia wrote:
markskor wrote:IMHO, wilderness writings and all related adventures, especially those occurring in our/(my?) Sierra are best expressed (and more engaging/entertaining) when presented in the third person. After all, HST is about the Sierra, and not about the I.

Just 2¢ worth
... one wonders if the total elimination of the first person singular is always a good thing and indicative of good writing?
:D
Not advocating the total elimination but,
When EVERY sentence starts the same way, I start not reading context but instead, begin agonizingly counting/dreading the same repetitive pronoun, (probably not the response sought by the writer.)
BTW, Sounds a lot like a high school writing assignment recently returned... for a re-write.

Re: I want to be Outside

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 11:18 am
by rlown
"I" want to be inside. Friggn cold out now. :D

Re: I want to be Outside

Posted: Thu Nov 07, 2013 12:25 pm
by maverick
"I" knew Mark was going to comment on this, because "I" know that the "I" pronoun
really rubs Mark the wrong way. :D