This I Believe

Well an update has been long in the making, hasn't it?!

Before I left for Montana I went on a road trip to New York State with my Mom, Dad, and Yiayia, to see my cousin Katina graduate. On the trip we listened to the NPR series This I Believe (which you can check out the details of here). This I believe is an incredible series. It is media enlightened by the variety of the everyday and not so everyday notions of its eager contributors.

I approach a number of my own beliefs with a certain amount of passiveness. It is a habit that I am trying to break. It has taken me until the approach of my quarterlife to realize that your beliefs are what charge you with the inspiration to live your life as you would like it to be lived. I look in particular at my mom as an example. She is a woman driven by circumstances beyond her control, to take charge and to turn those circumstances into substantial contributions to her community by fearlessly sharing what she believes in very public venues. I think also of my dad who, inspired by a morning prayer in his public school which caused ostracism of his nonchristian classmates, was driven to defend those members of society whom society cannot help but ostracize. It takes confidence in your beliefs and consciousness of your circumstances to make positive, and sustainable contributions to this world.

So I am trying to decide what to believe in. One big or small thing at a time. I will start small. I will start by explaining why I am here, in the great land of the grizzly bear.


I believe in the mountains.

They are the watershed, the great giver of thy nature, the great feeder of endless cycles.
They are the mark of our history, of our mutability, of our organic fate.
They are what we must venture over in order to see beyond.
They touch the heavens, but remain grounded.

I believe in the mountains.

I know that they will challenge me. I know that I am different. I know that I am small. I know that sometimes I am quiet and unsure. But I am sure of something. Something that has invigorated me. I believe in the mountains. Our lives are about climbing them. And at the greatest peak there will simply be more peaks in the distance. I know these things. But this is why I believe in the mountains. Because I believe in myself to overcome them and not only that but to LOVE them, to learn from them, to leave them.




And so I am here. In Big Sky. Because I believe in the mountains. This, I believe.

Love,
Zoe