There is always an enormous temptation all of life to diddle around
making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on
end. It is all so self-conscious, so apparently moral, simply to step aside
from the gaps where the creeks and winds pour down, saying, I never merited
this grace, quite rightly, and then to sulk along the rest of your days on
the edge of rage. I won't have it. The world is wilder than that in all
directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright. We are
making hay when we should be making whoopee; we are raising tomatoes when we
should be raising Cain, or Lazarus.... Go up into the gaps. If you can find
them; they shift and vanish too. Stalk the gaps. Squeak into a gap in the
soil, turn, and unlock -- more than a maple -- a universe. This is how you
spend the afternoon, and tomorrow morning, and tomorrow afternoon. Spend the
afternoon. You can't take it with you.
Annie DillardPilgrim at
Tinker Creek
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