Peaceful Places

As the trees and flowers begin to bloom and all creatures great and small once again begin frolicking in the warmer days of spring, we cabin-fevered bipeds can now look to spending time in any of the many peaceful places the world still has to offer. The majority of people these days have lost sight of the serenity that their youth afforded them; some willingly, some not so much. The baby-boomers and their parents, for the most part, came from a much quieter time. The precipitance of everyday life was left to the people you watched on TV or listened to on the radio. Some of us aspired to be just like those people, others became that way out of necessity. The shrinking infrastructure of our country has forced more and more people to migrate closer to metropolitan areas, where most of the work has gone. If you long for that slower pace again, even if only for a weekend, pack your sleeping bags and turn back a few years. Round up the kids, load up the car, and get away, somewhere out in the wonder of nature. One very old adage has always held a special place in my heart,” The best things in life are free.” We all need to slow down, get off the wheel, and take the time to absorb those things in life that have always been around and are more and more being taken for granted or overlooked all together.

Whether it’s to fish, or hunt, or just relax and do nothing, the wilderness is still out there, and not as far away as you may think. Wherever you live, if the crowds are going east, go west. If they’re going north, go south. You get the idea. Believe it or not, wherever the masses are going, the wilderness is 180 degrees opposite. It’s still waiting, and more inspiring than you ever remembered it. So get out there, pitch a tent, start a fire, cook a few burgers over a wood fire, curl up in that sleeping bag and tell the kids a few scary stories, and drink in the American wilderness. Take a walk through nature and listen and see what beauty and splendid innocence still exists within miles or even feet of the same places we live in that fill our daily news with accounts of violence, despair, and disappointment. Someone more knowing than us has provided us all with a world full of peaceful places to find sanctuary from the everyday treadmill. Go out and find yours today. It’s just down the road. The sooner you get there, the happier you'll be.