“We Americans are great on fillers, as if what we have, what we are, is not enough. We have a cultural tendency toward denial, but, being affluent we strangle ourselves with what we can buy. We only have to look at the houses we built to see how we build against space, the way we drink against pain and loneliness. We fill up space as if it were a pie shell, with things whose opacity further obstructs our ability to see what is already there…”
—Gretel Ehrlich, The Solace of Open Spaces
It wasn’t until I left Wyoming to live in southern California that I read these words by Gretel Ehrlich. Although there are some beautiful open spaces left in southern California, and some communities have progressive open space initiatives, you’re still surrounded by ~5 million people. Still, they provide an escape, if only for a few hours, from everyday life in southern California. However, having returned to central Wyoming for a visit earlier this week, I now realize just how much Ehrlich’s words resonate with me.
Standing on the prairie north of Cheyenne with the cold December wind blowing in my face, I knew I could look for miles across the bunchgrass, knowing I was one of very few people for almost 100 miles. I took a deep breath and smiled. Yes, perhaps we do build against space (are we afraid of what we might find if we explore that space?), but sometimes that space brings a very special kind of solace.
Happy Holidays to you and yours. Thank you for reading and participating on my blog this year; it really does mean a lot to me, and I appreciate it more than you know. I’ve got a few blog posts planned for the rest of this year, but am looking forward to a productive and creative 2011!
Solace, December 2010
A critic would criticize this image for having nothing interesting in the foreground. But, that’s sort of the point. 🙂
Great blog! I was in Wyoming recently! I kissed my front door when I got home lol 🙂 one of the scariest drives I have experienced in my life!
The picture really drives your point home to I think!
Good thoughts, Greg! Just a small taste of wildness can keep the flame burning for years. Still, I became addicted. The occasional taste just wasn’t enough. There are around 2500 people in the entire county where I live and not a single traffic light. I smile involuntarily every time I open the door.
Thanks for the thoughts and comments, Guy & Heather. Guy, I agree with you that although a taste can satiate the hunger for a short while, for some that isn’t enough. I can feel the wind of change blowing in my own life, and my time in southern California coming to an end. It will be time to simplify and re-prioritize my life in the near future, I hope.
Great quote, and screw the critics. You captured the feeling of the wide open spaces beautifully.
Well said, and Merry Christmas to you and yours as well!
That is a wonderful quote and your commentary draws me out and gets me thinking about open spaces and where I have lived in my life. Gretel Erlich puts it more eloquently, but part of why what she says is true and why our cities don’t seem friendly is simply that they are designed around the automobile rather than the person moving through them.
Have enjoyed your blog this year!
Thanks so much David, Derrick, and PJ!