An Oldie, but another Goodie

The woman was incredulous.

“You went to the desert!?! What did you do for entertainment?”

My wife and I had just returned from a few days spent burrowing as deep into the desert as we could manage. We marveled at the scenery, the colored rock, the sunrise and set, and the scattered silver-gray puffs of plants that looked like they hadn’t done any useful photosynthesis in years. We tried to comprehend the silence and the star show at night, the solitude, and the subtle but persistent hint of danger. We slept in the back of our pick-up, drank water from a jerry can, and cooked simple meals over a camp stove.

Both of us attempted to stretch our finite minds to absorb the infinite scale of the place. Then we returned home exhausted but enthralled and renewed.

My wife’s friend doesn’t do things like this. I admit I rarely understand the activities that excite her, but I don’t remember asking her to explain her passion for these. However she was determined to get some justification from us for the week we had just expended. Why did we go to the desert?

Where do I start?

Let me tell you of a man I met once. Some day you may cross paths with one like him, but don’t be surprised if you are tempted to ignore him. Most everyone does.

He is an odd little man. He keeps to himself.

Like the stray cat that comes to your back door, you cannot just reach out to him or he will cut and run.

You may find he has a wall around him. If by chance he lets you through this wall you will find another, and perhaps a third. Like all walls, their purpose is to keep people away. This man has his reasons for the walls, for the protection they offer, but you probably will not learn of these.

His hands are rough and scarred, and his muscles taunt. He may be as old as he appears, but it is hard to tell. The wrinkles on his face tell their tale, and his eyes have a permanent squint from too many hours spent in the sun.

Look into those eyes and you will know someone lives in there. They speak of time and thought and finally, wisdom. Watch them transform from wary to warm without any other change in his features. From his perch at the periphery of the crowd he pretends to be somewhere else, but those eyes miss nothing.

He may have failed at everything, or he may have simply left success behind to be by himself. Never good at following directions, he can invent anything he needs. You cannot offer to pay him in order to gain some measure of control over him, for he doesn’t want your money.

He doesn’t need you.

But if the time is right and the whiskey good, he just might decide to talk. If you are smart, you will shut up and listen.

You may have to sort through some strange stories, because a lone imagination can wander into some funny places. But be patient and he will begin to teach you some of the workings of man’s mind.

He will know nothing of TV or recent movies, and he mostly reads old books. But since experience comes from things done wrong, he can speak from authority.

Let him talk. If you pay attention you will gain something important that the others always miss. Do not dismiss the man as they do, for he offers insight you cannot find anywhere else.

The Mojave Desert doesn’t need you either.

Most people ignore the desert while passing through at 85 MPH. They are going somewhere else and the desert is not a destination to them; it is just in the way.

Others come to the desert with their toys. They tear around on motorcycles or dune buggies. They gather in large groups, leave the lights on, and make lots of noise. They go into the desert without letting the desert into them.

A few lucky ones crawl away from the crowds and find solitude, darkness, and silence. They find colors and clouds, alien plants and stark beauty. They are not comfortable, for the desert is both too hot and too cold, and it certainly is not soft. But they are spellbound. They shut up and listen… and learn things they cannot learn anywhere else.

Refreshed and infused with new perspective, they can go home to suburbs and cities, to jobs and tedious people.

Perhaps they don’t wish to spend all their time with this odd little man, but they are glad to have met him.

“What did you do for entertainment?”

Sorry, but if you have to ask…