So… there was a time when…

Sunday, December 13th, 2015

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Big Bend National Park, Texas xxx

"How can someone while claiming their belief with open arms, compassion, love, a big heart, have the opinion that everyone else besides them is wrong?" 

Big Bend National Park, Texas-2 xxx

For those who wrote to me expressing they miss my writing, I “Thank” them but also so often wonder "why?", as while reading over my own words I find them quite often so boring to tell you the truth. I will sometimes and the rest is for another Book next year.
It is a cold evening, I was sitting under the stars with multiple layers on while Spirit already asleep with a stomach at times growling from his dinner, and those stars, this infinity above me, this sound of the deep silence surrounding made me think what follows… We have also come back from "La Linda Bridge" where I realized we had not gone in three years. Built in 1964 and closed in 1997, the eerie space sure brought many thoughts of "then and now".
Good or bad, right or wrong? I never expressed that my own opinions are the correct ones. Sometimes I don’t have any as there are none. I enjoy sharing! Honest sharing… There is no mask here even though I have been lately warned, which kind of shocked me, to wear one as to not upset others if I wrote … Oh! well, that is not going to happen.

Closed -La Linda- bridge. Border to Mexico._-3 xxx

La Linda, Mexico-2 xxx

La Linda, Mexico-3 xxx

I read this the other day written by Jeanette LeBlanc in 2008 and thought I would also share it…

It is called "Go now, and live"

"Experience. Dream. Risk. Close your eyes and jump. Enjoy the freefall. Choose exhilaration over comfort. Choose magic over predictability. Choose potential over safety. Wake up to the Magic of everyday Life. Make Friends with your intuition. Trust your gut. Discover the beauty of uncertainty. Know yourself fully before you make promises to another. Make million of mistakes so that you will know how to chose what you really need. Know when to hold on and when to let go. Love hard and often and without reservation. Seek knowledge. Open yourself to possibility. Keep your heart open, your head high and your spirit free. Embrace your darkness along with your light. Be wrong every once in a while, and don’t be afraid to admit it. Awaken to the brilliance of ordinary moments. Tell the truth about yourself no matter what the cost. Own your reality without apology. See goodness in the world. Be bold. Be fierce. Be grateful. We wild, crazy and gloriously free. Be you.
Go now, and live"

La Linda, Mexico-10 xxx

La Linda, Mexico-13 xxx

So… there was a time when… we were real?… meaning, "are we now fake?" with all the mental components which has like suction cups protruded from us…
While we are hovering within these three million acres called Big Bend in the Southwest of Texas, though not quite at 100%, my thoughts go back to the old days while I recreated those old days just a while ago by staying silent on the Internet. Maybe not long enough? Maybe it was, as days can now go by without even looking at my phone, tablet or PC… Give it a try… These three items by themselves have started to make me wonder about "There was a time when…"
Too much has changed.

La Linda, Mexico-7 xxx

La Linda, Mexico-8 xxx

La Linda, Mexico-9 xxx

And the list is long! Some have even nothing to do with the Internet as, not my favorite saying lately, but I do say it "Getting old [er] is not for sissies!". It is a bit like I had a nice stroll on a more or less well designed path even if such path had often been full of surprises, but then suddenly it ended and I fell of this cliff… this precipice which for the time being has changed the logistics of it all. An amazing revelation I must say! Like "what happened?". "You got old [er] my Friend…". Old is of course a mental state within this Life of ours, yet we do need this vehicle called our "body" to keep us going, riding, hiking… and more. What was done in one day, maybe even half a day now takes about two or three! It is not that much "that fact" which was hard to comprehend, but the acceptance of for now a Life change. Of course it is tough, even rough I would say as when yesterday I moved some rocks which I was not suppose to do and paid the price all afternoon! I now even laugh at myself and I laugh because I do hear complains and whining from others which makes my hair stand up! Enough… Enough… It is what it is. Move on, do the best you can as that is all we can do and so many are so much worse off than us. I found another path when I hit the bottom of that cliff. It is as beautiful as the one above it, at times even more as… the going is slower and I write this with a smile. So what? I don’t have a watch. The sun keeps rising every morning so far, I watch its sunsets which tells me night is here and I look forward to sleeping… Simple pleasures of Life while surrounded always by some incredible landscape.

La Linda, Mexico-5 xxx

La Linda, Mexico-12 xxx

La Linda, Mexico-11 xxx

This short sabbatical taught me and reaffirmed much. It so clearly showed me the “then” and the “now”. My "now" and others "now". It showed me how I lived in the “then” and continue to do so while I have to and do respect the ones that today have jumped that border most likely forever. And then again maybe not. Maybe they will find that key to come back and make the screen disappear, raise their head for a moment to say “Hi” or put it to rest for a while, speak and pronounce real words while having a real conversation with a real friend. Is it selfish to "do Life" for yourself? To have kept the unfortunately now "old values" which I find so dear to me? I know I get a bit [maybe a lot!] harsh when I talk about this subject. It is as an ancient stage has disappeared and in its place the circus has come to town. The one with the big screen showing off the latest cheeseburger or bike laying in the mud to the whole World! And yes, we can now from the comfort of a chair and this screen reach the whole World and feel important. We can portray so easily who we are not and fulfill our bucket of self gratification to the rim… That could be because in years past the "then" was a real "now"… I know, this is all so ambiguous! Isn’t it amazing when we think about all the cups of coffee we had while talking to one Friend and not thousands… I feel as the key to the “now” is to differentiate "sharing" and "self gratification". Yes, here I go again… It is such a fine line and yet that line widens when it is crossed over almost as a door only opening up one way.

Closed -La Linda- bridge. Border to Mexico._ xxx

All this reminds me of the many readers of the most popular motorcycle forum. Half of the members don’t even have a motorcycle. We call them "screen riders". This screen has open the path for anyone [with quite some work I am sure] to be famous, important, receive praises and of course the gazillion "likes" they live for. And that is where the fine line is drawn, that line which widens by the day when the addiction becomes the greater maladies many have found and avoid the cure. Yes, Life has lost its true reality replaced by the false backdrops bouncing over and over for the World to see and… like. Is this when I should wear a mask? Is this when I am upsetting many? Let’s face it… Lets accept it… This is not a lie. I would not lie throughout these first hand observations…

Closed -La Linda- bridge. Border to Mexico._-6 x

It is truly amazing how Life has drawn its own circle. I am almost back to where I started. Of course like many, I did get sucked into it… to what? you know what. As for many the forks on the road never stopped while mistakes were done, right turns instead of left ones, a U turn when I shouldn’t have, avoiding inner vibes which proved later on to be right and so ending up with a heavy price to pay as what do we really know? Life did not come with an instruction book. If it did, I have not yet found it. The closest tries has been the advanced technology allowing anyone to be what they want to be while leaving the horns of that bull behind in the dust and catapulting themselves instead into new horizons which only look like fake painted movie sets… Am I upsetting anyone yet? I hope not… I am generalizing. You do what you want… I will do what I want… I will do it for myself with the "then" values which on my stage are still present. Something to think about!

Big Bend National Park, Texas-6 xxx

Stay well, always.
                          Ara and Spirit

Big Bend National Park, Texas-5

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3 Responses to “So… there was a time when…”

  1. Jack B. Nimble Says:

    Just BE.

  2. Lyle Says:

    Ara, it is always good to drop by and see what you are up to and what you are thinking.

    I’m thinking of my thens and nows, as a result, and the events and people that brought the changes. And i’m thinking of taking my own sabbatical from the unreal world of social media. Time is the fire in which we burn, and I’ve wasted far too much of it there.

    Thanks for keeping us posted, Ara!

  3. Jack Cheasty Says:

    Enjoyed seeing Marathon through your lens. A new place to visit, now added to my growing list. Hope you are well.
    Jack

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