We can change the world.
Down the street from the main square in Paris, Texas
Spending a day with a friend on their birthday.. what’s a better way to spend the 2nd day of the year? What’s a better way to spend any day? As we move through this new experience we’ve agreed to call 2021, let’s do so with love..
The Trail de Paris on the first day of a new adventure that is 2021
One-one always feels so fresh. It’s an opportunity for us to be better at whatever we want to be. It’s also something to be grateful for—another day, another year of life. There’s much work to be done. Let’s be better to ourselves, kinder and more considerate to each other, and make this a great year for humankind. Here’s to 2021 being a step forward for all of us individually, and together.
Roads lead to new beginnings, Paris Texas, 2020
It seems everyone is clamoring for the year to be over, something new, for some change, in 2020. I can’t say I’m much different, but I believe it’s important to reflect on the past 365 days every New Year’s. The year of 2020 has brought much hardship to many. But it’s also given each of us something: an opportunity to examine our lives, what’s important to us, and quite simply, how we’re livin’. Let us remember and treasure what this year has given, as we move forward to an even better 2021.
A lonely road by moonlight in Lamar County, Texas
We knew cases would get worse with the Christmas and New Years holidays, and they have. While trying to resist our penchant for overreaction, it’s difficult to not ask, “what happens from here?” Do people stay locked down, alone in their households, for 6 more months? Is it going to be 1.5 to 2 years in total that we live this way? Being in rural northeast Texas this week has highlighted how different daily coronavirus life is in countryside versus larger cities and suburbs. Near Paris, Texas there is space. Even without seeing people, one doesn’t feel as confined or restricted. Back home in my one bedroom apartment, the isolation is much more daunting. All of these questions and circumstances make for an interesting collective experience for our country as a whole. It’s easier to see why the coronavirus has served as a prime divide between liberal and conservative individuals. However, it’s clear that albeit in different ways, life is being affected everywhere in this country, no matter what color any given state associates itself with. People are sick here too, far away from the hotspot known as California. The sooner we recognize that we’re all in this together, the faster we can unite in eradicating this virus and building a more cohesive world for hermits and social butterflies alike.
Pondering walks in rural Texas are well spent
It’s always a weird in-between period this week, the juxtaposition of two important holidays in the United States. Christmas was always the most familial event growing up. New Years seemed more societal, about the turning of a page in the record book for our species. But what about in between? It can serve as a great space for introspection. Slow lazy minutes of nothing, interspersed with deep thought of where we’re going how to get there, and why. If we individually take the time to reflect, we can collectively effect big change. We can change the world.
The quiet, slow life of Paris, Texas
I was writing a blog post about the pace of life, how it can be good to experience both fast and slow, and how we adapt to the various speeds throughout the different stages of our existence. The truth is life adapts—it’s the hallmark of the nature of life—and our being uncomfortable has nothing to do with it. We can seek out the change of pace in life, or we can simply witness it. Regardless of the exactness of the acceleration, it becomes clear that time is merely a vehicle of experience.
Downtown Dallas this morning
Different state, different lifestyle. It truly is a different living in other parts of the country, and that’s part of what makes America great. If we can remember to be the United States, we can genuinely accomplish anything—just look at some of the past. Differences in ways of living don’t have to be unity death sentences. If we start to view ourselves as one, we can influence the rest of the world, and then anything is really achievable.
Locals enjoying Boxing Day outdoors in Dallas, Texas
Travel is just different now. Our infrastructure wasn’t designed for a pandemic, and it shows on the plane and at one’s destination. In a way though, maybe it shows us how we can better improve our world and make it more accessible for all in any scenario. Besides, there’s still something fun about spending Boxing Day somewhere different that’s not your home. It’s one big beautiful amazing world out there.
Not July, but Christmas in a pandemic. Santa Clara, 2020
I think for the first time ever, I had to do a quick grocery store run on Christmas morning. There was no one on the roads, and it made me so happy. People are with their families. Hopefully in smaller groups and within bubbles, but it reinforced to me how incredibly significant this holiday is to Americans. I am not religious, but Christmas has always been the most important day of the year. It’s a day to gather with those we love, to fend off the darkness of winter, and to rejoice in the grace we are privileged to each and every day. Like most things in 2020, this Christmas is different. But because of its differences, it’s all the more powerful. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it.
Some passerby peaks upon entering Torres del Paine, March 2019”
‘Twas Christmas Eve, and we all are a’thinking... what the fuck. Sorry to be so vulgar, but the privileged few of us who can complain about a lack of ceremony this year can only remake on how different this year’s festivities truly are. And yet... do we spend them with our most loved ones? Perhaps we don’t, and that reinforces the need for our tribe. Or maybe we do, and it fortified our familial bonds. Whatever our association with the holidays this year, it’s bound to be different, much like the past 12 months. What do we decide to do, once we reach this conclusion? Do we invigorate our common cause? We are no longer sleeping, we are no longer the mouse... Let’s rise up and create a better world for our children.
The peaceful Esplanade Lagoon in Cairns, Australia
One of the biggest takeaways from this year is our collective realization that uncertainty and fragility are a part of life. We can set all the time schedules we want, we can proliferate magical technology across the globe, and we can fall in love with our soft comfort, but none of it will dent the inevitability of life. This collective realization, whether experienced consciously or not, has been uncomfortable. It has illuminated the deep discrepancies between populations. It’s forced us, whether we wanted to or not, to reflect on the finality of life. But most of all, it’s revealed the importance of the loved ones in our lives, and for that I’m grateful.
Works of art exhibit joy. Saint Peter’s Basilica, 2019
Do you remember the feeling of Christmas almost being here when you were a child? The anticipation, the excitement? Just the deep intuition that what’s to come will be special?
That feeling, that emotion, is almost ever present in children: joy. The proper question for all of us to ask ourselves is... what brings us joy? Whatever the answer for any of us, it’s something that builds, not detracts, and that is our contribution to the rest of the world.
Sunset from Lion’s Head in Cape Town, December 2011
Today marks the Winter Solstice and the beginning of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere. What a weird winter it will be. Walks are still modified to distance from any passerby. We shelter in our homes not due to the cold and the elements but because of a novel virus that has entered our world. Holidays will look different this year, perhaps unlike any we have ever experienced in our civilization's history. The world, in many ways, is strange and different this winter. Maybe we can use this demarcation event today to pledge a commitment to kindness and fortitude. Resilience is necessary every winter and has been encoded in our DNA for hundreds of thousands of years. This year however, we brave the most treacherous season for different reasons. Let us remember to be kind to one another, that we are all human, and let us remember the big picture, when faced with the inevitable difficult decisions that await us. Such resolve will enable us to not merely survive the longest night of the year, but also remind us of the coming dawn.
There are a lot of penguins on this small wondrous world
We are Terran. There isn’t a single one of us who isn’t. When we start from there, it becomes easier. Earth seems a bit less vast and a little bit more singular. It’s a small world after all. What could we accomplish, if we began with that principle?
Bicycle against a wall, Beijing 2014
Do you feel wiser than yesterday? Do you ever think that Italians understand la dolce vita more so than other cultures? Everyday we grow, in one way or another, and it’s completely up to us which direction. With the restrictions in many places now as we look forward to Christmas next week, are we prioritizing simple meals with family? As the wisdom expands, let us not look back with regret, but forward at possibility.
To someone out there, this land is their existence. Alviso, California
I came across the term “tax exile” in my reading and stopped to look it up. I could infer its meaning, but was curious and referenced it on Wikipedia. Scanning the article, through the basics of its meaning and implications to the various legal definitions by nation state, a thought struck me. I considered the scenario if I became a tax exile to the United States. It would mean I could never return home for the rest of my life. What a shuddering thought.
We are tied to the land we come from. Even now, in the age of global exploration at the individual level, we are still bound to the blood of the land of which we are born. We are anchored to the terra firma on which we grow up. This land is your land, this land is my land.
Can we still coexist? Absolutely, we’re a mobile species and have that biological architecture, and more importantly, we must. No matter whatever recent samples from asteroids or the Moon, this is the only rock we’ve got. This is the critical moment in our civilization’s timeline. What next?
Ocean sunsets in the Galapagos are thought-provoking and inspiring
When I skate around the edges of the political zeitgeist rink with colleagues or friends, it’s clear many people want a “return to normal.” This year is an abnormal year—pandemics only come around every 70-100 years or so, after all. The surreal circumstances of the year have highlighted the built up incompetence and corruption of our government though, and a return to “how it was before” would only be a resurrection of the opaque facade from which our political system masqueraded behind. To achieve true representation for all Americans, we cannot passively wait for this to pass, to merely languish until tomorrow. We must demand change, and act on our deepest convictions, of which the vast majority of us actually agree. Freedom, equality, and justice are there for the taking, if we want them. But they must indeed be taken.
Waverley Cemetery on a smokey day in Sydney, Australia
As I considered my goals for the upcoming year, I realized they shouldn’t only be about myself. Given the hardship so many have faced this year and the current political landscape, it seems not just prudent but necessary to think of us as a whole. This has proven to be a frustrating year politically, no matter what “side” you’re on. It’s important for us to remember it is our responsibility as citizens to demand representation in our government. Whether it’s writing our representative, staying more informed, or donating our time, if we each resolve to be more active citizens in 2021 we can create a better community as a country.
Every different view yields different scenery at the Plaza de España in Sevilla
The days get darker earlier and earlier--but there's some good in everything, right? I just had my 'afternoon walk' and it was completely dark. So I got to experience one of those typical scenes in Christmas scenes in movies in which a character drives or walks through a neighborhood and sees the different decorations and each house's Christmas tree in the window. You know, à la Tim Allen on his way home after braving the "traffic" in The Santa Clause. Or Jimmy Stewart admiring the small town beauty of Bedford Falls in It's A Wonderful Life. It was peaceful and enabled me to clear my head a bit ( the cold air helped in that regard quite a bit). Much like everyone else, I can't stop reflecting on this year. It's been hard for everybody, and one way or another, different. It's given us an opportunity to glimpse what was the status quo, and we now have the opportunity to change it. We also have tangible evidence that the world is truly beautiful. We long for its natural beauty from being stuck inside for so long. And 2020 has shown that most people are good. Most people do the right thing, and will step up for others. We see that with our selfless healthcare workers, our educators, and everyone working essential jobs. We have much to be grateful for, much to be eager to return to, and much to want to improve. It's a big beautiful amazing world out there; if you need a reminder, take a walk.
2020 has us be like..
Transitions warp time, making it either flow faster or slower. I try to keep abreast of that fact when working through them. In a way, 2020 has been a microcosm of transition. The question is: what’s it going to look like on the other side?