Homage for Young America

Phase Three: Life on the Front Range

South Carolina is now a place I once lived. From September 3rd through the 16th I severed the geomantic umbilical chord via Atlanta, Chicago, Madison, Bemidji, Winnipeg, Regina, West Glacier, Provo, and now the golden days of Denver.
MSR backcountry stoves, water pumps, head lamps, packing and unpacking, laughing away exhaustion, vacant hostels and conversationalists have stepped in for falafel, bemoaning restaurants, South Main St. jazz, and the eerie calm of graduation in a college town.
Either the process of growing old or realizing my youth has left me with a deep respect for my peers. The further I plunge into the deluge that is my autonomy.. the more I appreciate the decisions and hospitality of others. Knowing what I have chosen for my time. Knowing that others have decided to welcome and encourage me. To shelter and feed me. To share their plans and aspirations. That we could all live vicariously through each other - at least for a little while - at least to pause from the magnanimity of our lives.
The foothills are a safe place to marvel. And it feels good to marvel again at the bravery of my friends and my imagination. The foothills are a safe place for leisure. All of the natives are gone, though we risk workaday intersections, we skate and skip to the converted coffee shop to read and the Frenchish bistro for pints and soccer - ambivalent. We have already thwarted so many typical disasters..

Whether we be the children of suburbia, the urban refuse, the advocates of journalistic and general integrity, the humble faithful that allow simple contact with the spirit and only wish to share that experience, the young teachers that live from sparkle to glimmer - that grow old with hope, the competent adventurers - parents, trekkers, advocates - even the purists and the elitists (if only such a thing truly existed)...we are earning our leisure.
The brethren that is future ...is here now. At least in me. And I, being one person, is enough to facilitate the virus.

I want to think that though this entry may sound much like previous entries... that my narrative is shifting. That what I am beginning to understand is not only profound in my own mind, but that it is empirically, emotionally, and spiritually - true. And not just true of young Americans, but true of the global youth. And not just the global youth, but that in all people there is an accessible, catholic commitment to truth - hope - love. The only choice we cannot deny if confronted.

Lastly, I want to take this opportunity, on this meager podium, to thank the peers that decorate my life. Most now, are beyond my reach, but I embrace you in every pensive tenor of the time. I champion you in every seeming insignificance...