I looked into taking Latin in high school.  It would have been one of those satellite classes like French and German.  Unfortunately, with Latin being a dead language, and there only being two of us interested in taking the class at the time, the request was denied.

Doesn’t feel like 30 years ago.

Nothing on the adventure front to write about . . . yet. Planning a weekend backpacking trip with Zachary and Randy.  Maybe just do a section of the Lone Star Hiking Trail in the Sam Houston National Forest.  Nothing spectacular, but it’s not a widely used trail and will make for easier hiking and camping.

I saw a billboard the other day.  I can only presume it was a winner for a TXDOT safety campaign contest.  It was a simple slogan:  Yield to Life.  At least I recall that’s what it was.  Google turns up nothing.  The billboard showed a stylized car with its brake lights on and then a pedestrian, a bicyclist, a dog, maybe a baby stroller(?) in front of the car.  I thought it clever, but clever in a good way as in intelligent and thoughtful.  As I thought on it, I began to really like the slogan and believe that it could be extrapolated out to a life philosophy as well.

Yield to Life.

Think about it for a minute.  What if we all did just that?  We yielded to life.

Our own life.

The lives of others.

Nature.

Earth.

Wildlife.

Wilderness.

Forests.

The time we are given for our life.

What if we simply gave all life the right of way?  It came first and everything else was second to it.  Our wants, profits, vanity, comfort, and convenience took a backseat to what should, in fact, be the most important thing to us:  our life and the life of all those around us.

What if we were grateful for what we had right now?  Actually truly grateful.  I think yielding, then, would be easy.

Jodi found a little over 5 acres for sale up in Colmesneil.  She seems called to that area.  As I was looking at the property, I saw many thousands of acres for sale in the region.  I can only imagine what will happen when it all sells.  If I had several million dollars, I’d buy as much as I could, put it in a land trust and set up a land preserve and retreat area.  No cost to come visit, hike, and/or camp other than that which one is called to donate.

Maybe we’ll start it with 5 acres.  I think we all need places of quiet repose in nature.

Places where we can learn to yield to life . . . and time.

 

Published On: 2018 February 14

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