"You must match time’s swiftness with your speed in using it, and you must drink quickly as though from a rapid stream that will not always flow… Just as travelers are beguiled by conversation or reading or some profound meditation, and find they have arrived at their destination before they knew they were approaching it; so it is with this unceasing and extremely fast-moving journey of life, which waking or sleeping we make at the same pace — the preoccupied become aware of it only when it is over".
-Seneca the Younger (from Brainpickings.org)
Why do we hike, anyways? I ask this to the two beside me.
I speed up and leave those two behind. I like the sound of blood to my neck and so I keep going. My question doesn't matter anymore. There are two static paths: up and down. And at the summit, I'm halfway instead of arrived. I don't know how far those other hikers are from the top so I lie and the car is actually closer than I think.
We drive and I step into the river. Ausable and, yes, it is sandy. Young boys play upstream and they're wearing good sun protection. Their parents watch the old man with a dog. I watch the parents watching. The water that touches that dog is touching their boys and those kids might not be wearing enough sunscreen. I swim in the grooves left by quicker current. I swim in current.
From what Seneca suggests, the water drops dried up and my skin got a little older and the water I touched moved along. And only when I see the river sand kick up and cling to the water's bank do I see time go at its good speed.
I obviously know what you are talking about because I was one of "those two", so my judgement of your writing is different than the way others would judge it because I know that much more immediately what aspects of today's events that you are referencing to... No matter, I have to comment anyway! ;)
ReplyDeleteThere are certain phrases and writing techniques in this passage that really stood out to me.
"Swim in current" is a great poetic creation of a double entendre.
The phrase "halfway instead of arrived" really stuck with me as well. I love the way the word "arrived" takes the place of what would normally be the word "full", implying that you feel as if reaching the summit is supposed to make you feel some sense of completeness, which is hardly ever true in reality... Throughout the hike, we discussed the reasons as to why people hike, why people do certain physical activities, why hiking appeals to us more now than it did when we were young, and our previous experiences with hiking. It was wonderful to witness you ascend your first high peak and transform from a skeptic hiker to one who was truly ingesting it all, swimming in it like it was your home, -- taking advantage of the opportunity much like Seneca the Younger urges us to live in the present and not think twice about how engrossed we are until after life has slowed down. The very act of posting this passage hours after such a fast-paced hike illustrates the way "the preoccupied become aware of it only when it is over". I really love that you inserted the quote that you did in this blog post, since it really made me focus on certain themes in your writing, which is luminous in its own right! :)
I also love the way there is a constant sense of movement akin to water flowing down a river throughout the descriptions... Your sentences are terse, yet rhythmic, and the presence of the longer sentence "From what Seneca... touched moved along" at the end of the piece is very effective at providing a conclusion. I love the imagery of water traveling in that second to last sentence a lot; the visual of water connecting to skin connecting back to water and zooming out to the sandy shore really takes the reader with you up for one last final inhale of the scenery, -- a scenery enlightening because of the way it brings to the surface the seemingly invisible passage of time.
The way you presented Seneca's quote at the beginning but did not directly comment on it until the final sentences of the piece gave me ample material to read in the meantime while considering how you aimed to relate the quote to the material.
gah I should write these in a word doc then post it because I can't go back and edit my comment, I don't believe.... But I just realize that my commentary didn't really have any sort of wrapping up statement. I just wanted to say that this was really well done, and this piece inspires me to write more about, well, simple things. Like walking up and down a mountain and wading in a river! hehe. what a great way to capture our day!
DeleteI like the idea of the summit being the halfway point; it's a beautiful idea. I also enjoyed following your change in perspective as we ascended. I was feeling similarly in the beginning - why the hell am I doing this? It was all worth it though, especially playing Moses.
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