The Absence of Adventure

Take a look around you (no, I'm not behind you). What do you see? A vast world full of ripe opportunities waiting for you to pick them? Or a grey, drab existence safety-harnessed by modern living and the "golden age" of technology?

Living in a technological age certainly has its benefits. Memory foam mattresses, video-chatting from around the world, and thousands of songs that we don't really like available at the touch of a button are all great things. But, the more gadgets we have and the more outlets we need, the deeper we bury the critical desire that has made humanity great: our sense of adventure.

Our ancestors were explorers who paddled their way through the storms of the Pacific, rolled on through the hardships and menace of the Great Plains, and climbed step by treacherous step to the summit of Mt. Everest. They stormed the beachheads of Europe, wore holes in the floors of dance halls, and made love in the backseats of muscle cars (it's probably where you were conceived). Nowadays, a man's idea of adventure is playing Gears of War with the volume up and the lights out. I can't speak for you, but this certainly leaves me with one lingering question. What the hell happened?

For some odd reason we seem to have adopted the mindset that the world has been conquered. The highest peaks have been climbed, the deepest depths have been charted, and John Mayer has slept with EVERYONE. So, now we all seem to think "if I can't be the first, I might as well not even try."

The good news is this train of thought is reserved for pinheads, Sociology majors, and people who wear jerseys. You needn't be any of those. So what if Kilamanjaro has been traversed? Have you climbed it? Have you been to space? Have you slept with everyone? Please don't. That's gross. (Ciao, herp-a-lerp.) We seem to have put aside our childhood dreams of excitement and grandeur for a life of mere existence.

Adventure is not a grandiose concept that requires consistent one-upping and breaking new ground for the human race. It is simply the desire for the individual to do what she has never done; to break through the modern fad of boredom.

I break the boredom by approaching everything in life with an attitude of adventure. I find hidden rooms and antique treasures in the buildings at work, look for fun and time-consuming projects at home, view every meal I eat as a culinary excursion, and embrace the freedom that the weekends give me. I seek out less-frequented, but equally impressive locales in my city, and try to learn something new every day.

So, go for a hike, tour your city's historic core, take advantage of a weekend deal from JetBlue. Do something. Or would you rather grow up to tell your grand-kids about how many episodes of Gossip Girl you've seen or how many hits your cat video got on YouTube? That Leighton Meester, though. Yeh.

Also,

Song of the Week - Theme from a Summer Place by Percy Faith. I know it's called "summer place" but it feels very autumny to me.

Poem of the Week- It's Possible I'm Moving... by Rainer Marie Rilke

Assignment of the Week - Spend a total of two hours this week studying the history of your city. Then, on your weekend, visit at least three of the places you read about. Knowing nothing about the place where you live doesn't make you busy or sheltered. It makes you ignorant.

Have fun. Read the Bible. Stay dirty.