Something that isn’t always readily apparent is that I take breaks from writing for this blog, especially after dealing with some exceptionally long posts. In this case, it was following the 10,000 words and over 100 photos I had written about our visit to Death Valley National Park in California back in early April. Blog posts published between these bigger events are not always written in sequence; take the Frog Pond entry as an example: it was written while I was deep in carving out my thoughts about Death Valley.
I felt that I needed to take a pause as there are times that my mind falls into an intensity of writing to the exclusion of other things, and these nearly two weeks were one of those times. Last year, I wasn’t afforded any breaks due to our extensive travel schedule, but then I was prepared for the long haul. This year, we do not have such a rigorous routine ahead of us, also by choice, and so I’ve been able to “take time off” to focus on some neglected areas of life, such as music things. Today, my pause caught up with me, and the proverbial cup overfloweth.
When I’m writing, my deep focus on trying to find meaningful exposition has me blocking everything around me while I am gazing at my photos and looking to discover if there’s an essence of love imbued in the images that will inspire my fingers to write something eloquent. I’ve often shared with others that my morning writing routine is a catharsis and my version of the gym allowing me to work out. Failing that, I stare into our world, and what I see is a horror show where a flood of stupid spills over my senses and sends shockwaves into my ability to focus.
It was time to escape, but first, I had to put digital pen to electrons and hammer out a screed of anger, allowing my spleen a proper venting, so I wrote Self-Righteous Stupidity, and with indignation and self-loathing, I allowed myself to fall into the turmoil and torture that is often my travel companion when I’m forced to consider the ugly situation of the masses surrounding me. This opportunity to use my time as I see fit, considering I don’t have the requirement to report to a job, can be a curse at the same time; it is a blessing. At least in the course of going to work, we can console ourselves with the idiom, “The devil you know…” as we grow accustomed to our co-workers, but when every day we are confronted with the confounding heavy-handed stupidity of those likely wasting a few minutes in banal small talk, society starts to take on the appearance of failing state where only the dumb will inherit the future.
Unhappy in my pursuit, I needed to break out and put myself back on track by channeling something meaningful to me anyway. So, I grabbed my camera and a long lens, heading out into a hot and windy May Day to capture some of the flowers that Caroline and I have been vibing to during our morning walks. By looking into the natural world populated by things other than people, I am allowed to expunge the distraction fraught with the ugly bits that currently obsess humanity and see the flowers and birds who just go on surviving with nary a care for the drama that consumes us bipedal idiots.
The saguaros are in bloom, as are the barrel cacti and ocotillo plants, though that’s not all because we are currently in the throes of a pollen storm as our desert transitions from cooler to hotter season. The riot of color brings with it a riot of nasal flow, but that’s okay as the pollen will start to fade while it’s transformed into a baked dust that will sit atop the surrounding desert scape until the arrival of the monsoons sends it aloft to attack us for a second time. If we are lucky, the monsoons won’t only bring high winds but will carry rain with them to just as quickly wash it all away. Venturing out into my neighborhood to take in these images is, for me, the proverbial monsoon rinsing the dry, scratchy senses left raw by the pollen of stupid people.
Should you think I enjoy this brusque assault on those around me, you’d be wrong. I want to have compassion for those who can’t help themselves, but we live in an age where we can all help ourselves be better informed and not so gullible to sensationalist manufactured outrage. Until the time when we collectively awake and take to cultivating the potential we all have, I will continue the lament that our society is by and large withering in the throes of great stupidity with nothing to show for it but the ugliness of intolerance and petty-minded simpleness that is unbecoming of a species where only the fringes are in full bloom.