Wednesday, September 6, 2023
That quote is from a woman writing about a trip she took to Europe when she was in her twenties. She hooked up with a group of Scandinavians her age, and they changed her outlook on life forever. She learned that not every moment in your life has to be for a purpose; sometimes it’s good to enjoy the moment, to not only drink, but taste and savor the wine, to enjoy the scenery, to just be. Lose yourself in the present, in the presence of your feelings, thoughts, your unique experiences that could never be duplicated.
I remember at 17, being sent to Silk Grass in the Stann Creek District, to be principal of the Silk Grass Methodist School! Before you start judging, things were different back then, not as bureaucratic as things are now in the Department of Education. Anyway, I’m straying from the point I’m trying to make. The first morning I went to school, I looked out my window and saw the majestic Cockscomb Range, and the Victoria Peak, the highest point of our Maya Mountains. I stood there in awe, feeling something, some deep pleasure inside me that I could never express in words; it was so mind-blowing, so ethereal to me. I never entered that classroom one day without looking at the Range; that simple experience made me a better person. Throughout the years, I’ve experienced that feeling of simply being, whether it was out at the cayes, or in some strange city on a different continent, or just walking down the street.
We live our lives, most of us do, I believe, striving to fulfill our goals, no matter how daunting, no matter how simple our objectives, but we constantly strive, and by the time we have accomplished that lifelong task, we have missed some of life’s most precious moments! We don’t stop and just be. I believe that the way you live your life is all based on your childhood and youthful self and experiences. Silk Grass, a little village built to house survivors of Hurricane Hattie, and the Maya Mountains, made me a worshipper of nature for the rest of my life! To just be.
It’s much harder these days to just be in this world. Time and technology and life itself are moving at such a breakneck pace that it’s almost impossible to just pause and breathe and be awed by the beauty and the simplicity of nature, of our little planet. For those of you who have a long life before you, take time off and enjoy your special moments. Maybe that is what we all need, simply being in this world!
Glen