I just came back from two weeks in
the Boundary Waters just below Canada. There were no telephones
or television and no cell phones. Just a cabin on a lake and
the great northern silence. There were no headlines screaming
about the terrorists or the latest bombings in the mideast. There
was just the wind whistling down from the top of the planet.
Nothing at all. A lot of people said to me, my God, how can you
leave for two weeks? How do you get away? It's not easy I replied.
One certainly loses money dissapearing for two weeks. One
loses opportunities that might knock while you are gone. To get
out of town requires intense planning and logistical support.
And it is expensive. Vacations are expensive. So a lot of people
just don't go. They stay in town and go on short four day vacations
where they can stay in contact. I don't blame them. The race
goes on. Life is very fast now and a person can fall behind very
quickly. But I don''t know. Something about seeing the Northern
lights spidering across the sky. Something about hearing wolves
in the dead of night. Something about hearing the loons mournful
call over a steaming lake in morning.
Then of course there is the air. It's rich and pure and stuffed
with oxygen. You feel like a superman. And it goes by way too
fast and suddenly you are driving back down to the lower forty
eight and you are back. All that noise crowds in and you wonder
how you live like you do. But you do. We all have to make do.
So now I have to work harder to make up for lost time because
all I did up there was read and think and nobody pays you for
that these days. But, when I enter the vortex of llife, when
the careening cylone of modern life grabs me, I'll still have
that Northern Silence inside. At least for a little while.
