Wednesday, September 23, 2009

a window seat is very telling

This week’s missive is being written as I fly over the glorious American southwest on a very beautiful morning. The majesty of the landscape below me has completely changed the focus of my writing as being 35,000 feet in the air provides yet another perspective on the vastness of our world. Flying above the red soil and parched landscape of the Navajo and Hopi nations reminds me of my formative years in New Mexico and the lessons I learned from such great people, the dignity of their beliefs and the richness of their culture. Seeing the flowing Colorado River – including a stretch of rapids visible aloft – reinforces the fierceness of nature as it moves to provide nourishment to those downstream. The stratified cliffs and escarpment that mark such a magnificent landscape reinforce the timelessness of the earth, the power of wind and water and the layers of time that came before us. As the plane continues onward we reach the Grand Canyon, and the contrast of pine forest adjacent to the starkness of the carved landscape. Interestingly, even the smoke from a forest fire is visible from my window seat making me wonder who – if anyone – is adversely affected by the inferno or whether its impact will only be the revitalizing kiss of flame to fuel promising a re-growth ahead. Finally, we cross over Las Vegas, looking so much less chaotic from above, and reinforcing the power of man to imagine something and make it come alive – even in the desert where it shouldn’t logically be.

As an American westerner by birth, this flight is exhilarating to me. The beauty of this land, the spirit of ancient people blending with the modernity of our world, the great distances between residents, are all deeply ingrained in my soul and – like everything else – make me draw ties to what virtualwirksis all about. The power of human ingenuity makes it possible to work anywhere. It allows the possibility of tapping into the wisdom, tradition, and uniqueness of people who live anywhere – even in this special place so uniquely beautiful from a 757. The juxtaposition of old and new, of remote and connected, of nature and man, of tradition and technology is stimulating. This land below, and the people within it, offers more to the world through the ability to tap into them virtually than ever before. Makes me wonder what possibilities lie beneath other flights being taken today; and more committed to finding out.

– Jim

1. Sequoia says:

   April 11, 2011 at 1:10 pm

   Wish I could come up with posts that cool.