The busyness of life gets in the way, and yet all these words march unceasingly through my head. Some are lost forever when I do not write them down. But what vanity is it to feel that it is a loss anyway?
I wonder why I need to write, even without an audience. I know I don't write well, but still I find it fills some well inside me, provides satisfaction.
To travel, to write, and to do the law. These things I do, and take great satisfaction in them. In the end, I guess that is the thing that makes doing them worthwhile.
As much as I like to write, I even more enjoy reading the writing of another if it seems well written. I've been reading Freya Stark's works lately, along with my law books and various other things. I am drawn to strong, unconventional people, women in particular, who unapologetically take life in both hands and squeeze all the juice out of it, and do so without stopping at the appropriate gender behavior line.
Stark traveled and wrote in the middle East in the early 1900's. She went about as a single woman when convention and society said she mustn't. "To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure. You have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it." Baghdad Sketches, by Freya Stark
This seems like not just a wise way to travel, but a fine approach to life itself. Go forth, and taste and see and smell and talk and listen.
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