Who am I?
Adventure
Change
Culture
Environment
Family & friends
Frugal
Knowledge
Peace
Social equality
I love adventure, love new things, love to travel , love to learn, love other cultures, love the exotic & different, love the environment, absolutely frugal, love family/friends and the human spirit.
Adventure to me takes many forms: biking a new trail, eating spicy tacos in a dingy border-town diner, canoeing down an unknown stream, salsa dancing in a random encounter, drinking guaro with campesinos in the cantina, snorkeling through 20' swells to swim with sharks and turtles, presenting at a conference, hacking to the mountain top through a unexplored Central American jungle, taking the chicken-bus to Quetzaltenango, getting lost in urban hood rubble.
Adventure and exploration often involve travel . I've traveled throughout the US, mountain biking from the Appalachians to the Rockies, surfing in Hawaii, backcountry hiking in Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, fishing 50 lb salmon and viewing grizzlies up-close in Alaska, beaching it with horses in Assateague and with family/friends in California. What I really dig is exploring the non-US world – preferably an unplanned, shoe-string budget journey in the developing world, hanging with the locals, learning native ways, eating & drinking local treats.
My being has an insatiable appetite for other cultures - have a degree in International Studies and have lived in Honduras and Samoa. I love languages - have studied Russian (kak vas zavut?) and Chinese (ni hau?), have learned smatterings of Samoan (Ua?) and Garifuna (Ida binya numada?), and am fluent in Spanish (Me crees?). Mingling with native peoples is so much more satisfying and memorable than resorts and Caucasian beaches.
Is knowledge power? Only when utilized and combined with wisdom/experience. I can get a high from learning, and a low from not remembering. My brain has been stuffed full thrice, devouring information that, at nearly the same rate, seems to evaporate. I hold on to bits and pieces that accumulate in my random cerebral closet. But I keep at it, always yearning for more learning, whether in classes, reading, radio, TV or simply living. Absorbed a wide variety of info in public schools, bounced around many subjects and got a BA in college, followed by a less diverse curriculum in advanced studies with an aquatic ecology masters of science.
Am I lucky? Not when it comes to tropical diseases, monetary riches, or finding soul-mates, but definitely so regarding family… career… opportunities… Family first, the way it should be, the way it is with me... I’m lucky to have my family and they may say they’re lucky to have me…? Career? Lucrative or happy? Both are certainly possible, perhaps not probable. I have always stressed the latter and found opportunities or maybe rather opened those doors to be in a place I’ve always wanted to be - places that others have often told me they envy. Yes, I consider myself lucky.
My path wasn’t clear, but all that I’ve done led me on a course, on a quest to do my part for the earth’s environment. For unknown reasons, perhaps biological programming, I’ve tried to do everything possible to protect/improve the environment for generations to come. And that is where frugality comes in. There are billions of us on this planet of limited resources – we can’t afford to live the way most of us do. Reuse and recycle are a must. Some of my enviro-quirks: commuting on a bike 365 days a year through frigid northern winters and scalding tropical summers, recycling and composting every thread of waste, conserving water in every way imaginable, driving as little as possible, and the list goes on…
And back to lucky – what about the unlucky, the unfortunate, the hungry, the dispossessed? I’ve seen it first-hand, young children living in cardboard boxes, sleeping in alleys, begging desperately for pennies, bellies full of worms, blood infected, brain damaged by Resistol vapor. They need me, they need us to help, to bring about world-wide social equality. The world is merging together, experiencing growing pains, cultures clashing, economic systems colliding – the human race needs peace, social equality, and understanding to emerge from its adolescence, to survive and universally flourish. That, I believe, is my ultimate calling – to go where I’m needed the most and where I’m capable of providing the most desperately needed help – to the impoverished world, impoverished by our actions and ways.
Now you know who I am – tell me please, who are you?
