Trembling Hillsides

Have you ever seen a trembling hillside? Have you ever swam amongst snowcapped peaks? Have you ever driven surrounded by high peaks along a fast-flowing river? On this trip to this posh resort a.k.a Suncadia, I have done these things. But I don't want to sound like a travel brochure. What I have done on this trip is relaxed, released, and entered a static state. I have had no contact with the world back at home and I'm living in a bit of a heavenly separation. It's nice to not be connected to the world outside of this forlorn blog.

Today we went on a drive to the Yakima River Canyon. It was stupendous. It was one of the original national scenic drives, and it is no surprise. It is a barren and desolate landscape, but it is one of the most romantically majestic sites I have ever seen. At one moment you see calm rolling hills along the Yakima, but then suddenly they rise to become huge massifs of scrub and brush glaring menacingly at you. You are small as you drive through the canyon and to top it all off I was listening to fantastic music that made the whole drive magical. It twisted around the steep cliffs and at every turn there was a new view, a new wonderment. And even on the way back upstream towards Ellensburg, each turn revealed a new side of the canyon. It's a metaphor for life. Beyond every turn there is something new; in fact if we had traveled a few more miles we would have been in Yakima, a rather large city. The drive reminds me that life offers many exciting opportunities and chances, and we just need to accept them with full arms and an optimistic viewpoint.

But the image that affects me the most is the view of the trembling hillside. Below our lodge, there is a slope covered in tall grass. No, it isn't actually jiggling, but the wind is strong and blows each individual blade of grass to create this sea of shifting grasses. It's an analogy for our world. The wind is like an opinion, a rumor, or a social movement. And it changes one person, then another, and then a whole group of people. When the wind blows one blade of grass, it is not exceptionally stunning, but when the whole hillside shakes it shows you how the actions of an individual can cause massive changes to the entire world.