One of my Favorite Excerpts

This is an excerpt that describes so well the kind of malaise living in the city produced in me for longer than I can recall. It propelled me into the free nomadic lifestyle for which I have opted.

Excerpt from "Summer of the Red Wolf"by Morris L. West

"In the crowded lands, in the ant-heap cities of our time, men are made and unmade by men. They are ground and frayed and polished and shaped, or misshaped, by contact with each other, like stones in a turbulent river. The past does not dominate them because they are whirled along in the torrent of now. The land does not dominate them because it is buried under asphalt and concrete and the feet never touch it. The sea does not rule them because they neither smell nor hear it, as they tread their corridors of bricks and mortar like mice in a maze.But in primitive places, in islands and uplands, man must adapt himself to the elements, to earth and water and changing air, else he will surely die. His past is always present to him, because the sap of knowledge and endurance must be drawn from it every day. His community life is less abrasive because it is more distended. It is more fraternal, more tribal, because it is closer to the mother earth, unified too, by the sense of common risk. Even the place names tell the same story. They celebrate no ancient tyrants, no fustian politicians, no irrelevant idols; they celebrate the earth and the sea and the fruits thereof." --

Posted By Stargazer to Boondocking Blogger at 3/25/2009 12:06:00 PM