Mostly Because of The Movies

I love the desert. I have never been there and never will be there.

I have patiently explained to you that I know of this love because of the way I react to movie scenes, books, pictures, poetic descriptions - anything and everything connected with the desert.

I feel a deep longing. More than that, I feel a deep sense of peace when I view the desert. Peace.

You call me a buffoon. Or is it bassoon? Am I a buffoon or a bassoon? How's your vocabulary? What do you know about musical instruments? Actually I could be both. I could be a buffoon who plays a bassoon.

But I digress.

I recently read Fire On The Mountain. Another book by Edward Abbey. Loved it. I love this man. I shall read all of his books.

There is an afterward to the book written by Gerald Haslam, who was an author, and a professor of English at Sonoma State College.

Haslam quotes Abbey as saying "I'd always been strongly drawn by the Western landscape, mostly because of the movies." He first saw the desert Southwest from a moving freight train. He described it as "things that are free, decent, sane, clean, and true." He found his soul.

He attended the University of New Mexico, and then found part time employment as a seasonal ranger with the National Park Service. He spent a healthy chunk of a 20 year span living in the wilderness, supplementing his career as a writer with his pay as a ranger.

The only discernible difference between me and Edward Abbey was that he devoted his life to the desert while I devoted my life to whining. I am trying to clean that up. 

The point to this whole thing is that the truth can become evident from less than concrete sources. If I spent some time in the desert you'd be more inclined to give me credit for the love that I experience. Movies, pictures, books etc are no less concrete to me. My emotional response is real. Edward Abbey was initially drawn to the desert "mostly because of the movies." He knew in his heart that that was where he belonged.

There are those who tell me "If you went to Arizona you'd probably hate it." These people are fools. They believe my deeply emotional response to the desert is purely fantasy. I know it is not. I feel it.

I keep a desert scene hanging on the wall directly across from my recliner. 

It brings me great peace. 

It brings me great regret.