I sit here after crossing the Connecticut River from New Hampshire to Vermont, Hanover to Norwich and yet I find no escape. Even while gazing across the wind-chopped water, sitting quietly alone there is no sweet release. It is only away in Nature, hiking through woods and on mountain top do I feel completely free. Free from the prying eyes and tireless voices abuzz with concerns that are so trivial to me.
I sleep little each night, restlessly, since leaving the 100 Mile Wilderness and the comfort of the Appalachian Trail. My neck stiff with tension of being noticed, seen, even called out at as I pass by strangers. My head spinning with the whirring sound of machinery and Man. There is no recognition that I do not want recognition. It pursues me relentlessly, tiring me, seeking me out in mere mundane tasks.
I feel another perfect fork before me only this time it travels North or South. To head North to Monson means struggle, disappointment in unanswered questions and anonymity. To continue South will result in that very thing I wish to escape. That fame, that glory, that living of life I want others to pursue. It falls in my unhappy lap as a cat that persistently pursues that hapless person who does not seek its attention.
Is there no middle ground? Must it be a perpetual wave of extreme ups and downs? I shy away from the recognition, the fame, the glory because all too quickly such things can turn on you and thus subside. The positive and negative energies waxing and waning with the cyclical moon. Round and round and round to what reason? What end? I fear there is none and know that to be the truth. I feel too one with the Earth in this sense. For without rhyme or reason, a chaotic symphony of events occurs finding sometimes a sweetly harmonized or violent clashing of existence.
I curse in vain this knowledge, this thing we call free will, this fate-less existence. I admire, the trees, the water, the sky, the earthy soil. It does not rail and ask why or wonder. They simply are.
Month: June 2010
Quotes: Henry David Thoreau
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life,
and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived.
~Henry David Thoreau
Journal Entry: June 29, 2009
Ezra and I were starved and had decided the day’s excursion into Hanover would begin with food. We were hungry. Ramunto’s pizza and garlic knots were on our mind. Though walking down Main Street we did stop and inquire if she would take a check at the hot dog stand. She said she would but we decided to move on and go with Plan A.
We walked into Ramunto’s and began surveying the selection. A woman behind the counter immediately came over saying, “No dogs are allowed in here.” I told her, “He’s a Service Animal.”
She retorted, “A Service Animal? I need to see papers saying that.”
I politely inform her, “I will happily show you my papers but realize that it is illegal, according to the American Securities and Disabilities Act to demand proof of a Service Animal.” and handed her the papers.
She looked at them and then me. She said, “Um, thank you for showing me the papers.” with a wavering smile on her face. I smiled reassuringly and said, “Your welcome.” then Ezra and I busied ourselves with deciding which pizza we’d be eating for lunch.
I suppose I could press charges, take advantage of another’s ignorance here in this situation. What she did was illegal. But really, what’s the point? Her ignorance of the details of the act, like the feigned ignorance incident of hot McDonald’s coffee being spilt, don’t deserve such pointless attention. Besides, her much mollified attitude and the very polite and friendly service we received afterwards…that was thanks enough.
Footnote:
AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990
[(2) Specific prohibitions
(A) Discrimination
For purposes of subsection (a) of this section, discrimination includes
(i) the imposition or application of eligibility criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability or any class of individuals with disabilities from fully and equally enjoying any goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations, unless such criteria can be shown to be necessary for the provision of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations being offered;]
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