• What Is Your Perspective?

  • “To the lover of wilderness, Alaska is one of the most wonderful countries in the world.” — John Muir

    We recently returned from a vacation cruise of South East Alaska. First of all, if you ever have the opportunity to the same of similar trip, do so. It was a memorable adventure. For city dwellers such as ourselves, being in places unspoiled of development and asphalt is restorative. Even if one is enjoying the view from a vessel weighing in excess of 100,000 tons. 

    Tracy Arm Fjord 8/12./2015                                                                      ©Paul McCandless

    For me the highlight of the trip was the morning we sailed into Tracy Arm Fjord. The entire area is a federally protected wilderness area and its pristine vistas and fresh air immerse the visitor. The experience was like entering another world. In fact, we did enter another world. A world formed by the ebb and flow of the Sawyer Glacier which still exists some 30 miles from the entrance of the fjord. 

    Tracy Arm Fjord 8/12./2015                                                                         ©Paul McCandless

    It is hard not to feel insignificant in the midst of untouched nature as we all were at Tracy Arm. In the midst of great unspoiled beauty, I was reminded that my concerns are manageable. In the few hours spent in the silence of a fjord, I found perspective. The scale of the world was proper. I am small and the world is a much larger and most beautiful place. 

    Tracy Arm Fjord 8/12./2015                                                            ©Paul McCandless

    It is too easy to get caught up in the everyday bustle of modern life. We become concerned with whether our internet connection is fast enough. Or if we need a new automobile. Whether our career path is what it should be. What our partner is doing or not doing. Whether we are loved or worse; whether we are worthy of love. 

    Tracy Arm Fjord 8/12./2015                                                                     ©Paul McCandless

    In the middle of nature, we find scale, we find perspective. We can find what really matters. And what really matters is we are alive and part of a world that is far more than the problems we have at home. We learn that keeping perspective of ourselves and the life we are living is, when all is said and done, the only thing that truly matters.