An Uplifting Experience

I had an uplifting experience today... Literally!

Took my first two helicopter rides in years!

It was just a short trip to another base, but since I've just recently taken over two hours on the roads to get there, flying over hill and dale and bumpy congested roads was a great experience.

Saw many homes from the air, with their mud walls that follow the contours of the trails and streams. Not like in the US where many houses are all built in straight lines on rectangular lots.

Here, the homes appear to be laid out in a helter skelter fashion. Many of them appear to have been abandoned and brought down to ruins sometime in the past. It's impossible for me to tell from the air whether it was two, twenty, or two hundred years ago...

Flying along, we saw nomadic people, living in tents, and tending to their herds. We saw people working in their fields, and children playing in the dirt yards.

While we travel in a "magic machine" that flies through the air, some of these people live lives no different than their Great Great Great Grandparents.

It's a strange feeling to know that there still are people who live in tents and herd sheep for a living. It makes me wonder what is necessary to live a fulfilling life... Is it a house, family, friends, money?

I watched the movie Australia this evening... I was told that it was good, and I agree. Early in the movie, one of the main characters, Drover, says something that caught my attention.

He talks about how some people own houses, land and things to feel secure, but that all of those things can be taken away. He says the only thing that's really your own is your story, so he wants his to be a good one!

Ben Franklin said something similar: "If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write something worth reading or do things worth the writing."

I hope that my words are worth reading for you.

I went where I needed to go, saw who I needed to see, and picked up the stuff I needed to get. All in all, a productive trip and a fine day.

And tempting as it may sound on a busy day in cubicle land, I'm not planning to live in a tent and become a shepherd anytime soon.