Thin Air...

We all have moments that change our lives. They make an impression on us and we're never quite the same. They are build-ups of thoughts, ideas, feelings... I was searching around the web tonight trying to come up with ideas for this blog. Things to write about. Things to learn. I jumped over to National Geographic's website - www.nationalgeographic.com. The site has a special feature about the Grand Canyon. As I click through it (I'm still clicking...), I just thought about how the moment I saw the Grand Canyon it changed my life. I've never actually written anything about it. My older brother Oren and I had driven quite a few hours north of Phoenix to get to the Grand Canyon on my first trip ever out west. The furthest I'd ever been in that direction was Chicago. As we climbed in altitude, my ears popped...the cacti were standing tall with arms at a permanent wave. I could see it soon after we entered the park. An absence of land. A drop in the world. When we parked our car it didn't seem like we were anywhere special. The air was thin and brisk and it made our eyes water. There's no avoiding the Grand Canyon. It lives up to its name. But it wasn't the beauty of the snow covered cliffs, the pale dirt paths, the deer roaming free among visitors that ignited something in me. It wasn't just the red canyon walls. As afraid of heights as I was...I stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon and looked outward, my boots leaving prints in the dust. There were visitors everywhere - talking, laughing, moving...but I didn't see or hear them for those first few moments. Those first few moments ignited in me a desire to see the world in its natural beauty. Nature is kind, sensitive and brutal. It can create a gash in the land that exposes true beauty, or create ideological nations immersed in violence leaving millions to perish from hunger and genocide. It can be thunderous or peaceful. Everything in life can seem so big, so complicated so horrible or wonderful or magnified. The truth is that we are all such small parts of a big world that still holds hidden places of magnificent beauty. When you realize how small you really are compared to the world itself...you find a little peace that your problems, your flaws, your hang-ups...are even smaller. Every blue sky looks a little better. You feel the feeling of a beautiful morning. You find something in every day to appreciate a little more. I knew then, that there was so much more to see. Every day that I struggle to get through what needs to be done so that I can do what I want to do gets harder and harder to tolerate - but I know the world is waiting. Until then - I'll revisit my favorite place in the world (so far) here: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grandcanyon/index.html