Ramble Out Yonder

The social media realm is always interesting. Last week, Shawn Bichsel aka @sbixel retweeted a link to my “Dealing with PETA” post (click here).  I had been a bit worried that I might be in the great minority with regards to PETA, and was delighted for the air cover. My curiosity about Shawn led me to his terrific blog, Lines in the Dirt.

Give me a home where the buffalo roam

Shawn has a great quote from Edward Abbey on the Outside tab of his site. It is pretty appropos to our times and evokes some of the same things Steve Jobs has been quoted as saying, making it even more meaningful. Here is the quote that adornes Lines in the Dirt:

“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, 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, the 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 men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.”

I have no idea if Jobs knew Abbey but they both saw the world from a great point of view.