Saturday, June 23, 2007
Joy
Recently, I was driving my rig down the highway when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a vehicle pacing me. I looked down and there was a pickup-truck with a young boy in a car-seat probably about 1-1/2 to 2 years old and his father who was driving was holding the boy's arm and pumping it up and down in the traditional "please blow your horn" motion. When I hit the air-horns, the boy went into an absolute seizure of joy! His arms and legs were thrashing and he couldn't possibly have grinned any wider! Although, I couldn't hear him I knew he was squealling with delight. It had been a bad day and that moment really helped.
The big question is: What happened to unbridled joy? When did we lose the ability to become overwhelmed with pleasure? Are we so jaded by life tragedies we no longer feel joy or have the individual moments become so commonplace we need more and greater experiences to elicit that pure emotion?
I rarely exhibit emotion. I am a very level, calm person. If I say something is good, that is a pretty high compliment. (I figure if God can create everything in a week and say it's "good", then, it's good enough for me) I do laugh easily at good humor but, not everything results in an out-loud burst.
I've found the only things that appear to bring out the joy in my life deal with power and speed and adventure. When I had my turbo-bike which had over 200HP, there was nothing like the feeling of pinning the throttle at over 130mph (on a closed-course with police supervision of course:) and having the front-end snap skyward! When I had my jet-ski, I spent more time out of the water than in. I loved to pass a large (the larger the better) boat and turn around and accelerate towards their wake and at the right moment, snap the trim up and pin the throttle and aim for the sky! I've been probably over 15 feet in the air on some jumps and loved every minute of it! I don't have any powerful vehicles at the moment but, my motorcycle handles well and I love pushing through the twisties rather quickly. My ultimate wish is to build another turbo-bike and go to Bonneville and attempt to set a record over 200mph in my class. I've driven 165mph before but, I want more.
John Denver spoke of the "Rocky Mountain High". I understand it completely. I love to be in the mountains surrounded by lands the way God made them. It is a feeling of joy yet, oddly calm and serene. I love to sleep in the woods and wake in the early morning when there is a cool fog in the air. I also had the opportunity to camp and ride off-road with an old friend of mine. It was a great weekend filled with both pleasant calmness and exciting thrills. Good times!
All in all though, I have yet to feel like that little boy again. Perhaps when I break 200mph I'll become the child again and they'll have to remove the smile from my face with a pry-bar!
Turbo Ghost
The big question is: What happened to unbridled joy? When did we lose the ability to become overwhelmed with pleasure? Are we so jaded by life tragedies we no longer feel joy or have the individual moments become so commonplace we need more and greater experiences to elicit that pure emotion?
I rarely exhibit emotion. I am a very level, calm person. If I say something is good, that is a pretty high compliment. (I figure if God can create everything in a week and say it's "good", then, it's good enough for me) I do laugh easily at good humor but, not everything results in an out-loud burst.
I've found the only things that appear to bring out the joy in my life deal with power and speed and adventure. When I had my turbo-bike which had over 200HP, there was nothing like the feeling of pinning the throttle at over 130mph (on a closed-course with police supervision of course:) and having the front-end snap skyward! When I had my jet-ski, I spent more time out of the water than in. I loved to pass a large (the larger the better) boat and turn around and accelerate towards their wake and at the right moment, snap the trim up and pin the throttle and aim for the sky! I've been probably over 15 feet in the air on some jumps and loved every minute of it! I don't have any powerful vehicles at the moment but, my motorcycle handles well and I love pushing through the twisties rather quickly. My ultimate wish is to build another turbo-bike and go to Bonneville and attempt to set a record over 200mph in my class. I've driven 165mph before but, I want more.
John Denver spoke of the "Rocky Mountain High". I understand it completely. I love to be in the mountains surrounded by lands the way God made them. It is a feeling of joy yet, oddly calm and serene. I love to sleep in the woods and wake in the early morning when there is a cool fog in the air. I also had the opportunity to camp and ride off-road with an old friend of mine. It was a great weekend filled with both pleasant calmness and exciting thrills. Good times!
All in all though, I have yet to feel like that little boy again. Perhaps when I break 200mph I'll become the child again and they'll have to remove the smile from my face with a pry-bar!
Turbo Ghost
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You are absolutely right. I think that life, age, and experience take away the ability to receive pleasure in that exciting way from simple things. It's a pity too, because as we become older and wiser we really ought to to enjoying things more and more - our time here IS finite after all.
On a more positive note, I just came back from a weekend camping in Wales, in the Brecons, with four of my work colleagues. These four guys were doing a charity event called "The Brecon Challenge". They had to hike 10 miles up Pen Y Fan (the highest mountain in south Wales - this takes about 4 hours), then immediately cycle 22 miles around an EXTREMELY hilly course (about 50% off road and VERY VERY steep - this takes about 4 hours), then immediately take the 4 barrels and 4 planks of wood supplied and build a raft which they then paddled around a reservoir course. They finished the entire challenge in 11 hours 30 minutes, and I think the joy and satisfaction on their faces at having completed this was close to what you saw on that little boys face!!
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On a more positive note, I just came back from a weekend camping in Wales, in the Brecons, with four of my work colleagues. These four guys were doing a charity event called "The Brecon Challenge". They had to hike 10 miles up Pen Y Fan (the highest mountain in south Wales - this takes about 4 hours), then immediately cycle 22 miles around an EXTREMELY hilly course (about 50% off road and VERY VERY steep - this takes about 4 hours), then immediately take the 4 barrels and 4 planks of wood supplied and build a raft which they then paddled around a reservoir course. They finished the entire challenge in 11 hours 30 minutes, and I think the joy and satisfaction on their faces at having completed this was close to what you saw on that little boys face!!
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