I love this video. Of the many Salomon videos I enjoy, most are from their trail running series. This one is from their "freeski" series, and while I am not a skier personally, it still really got to me. Many of my daydreams are spent considering what a simple life in the mountains could mean. I love Annick Roman's remark, "Mostly we protest by living here. By living simply, enjoying the clean mountain air, and sharing it with our friends."
What a beautiful way to live! But I don't allow myself to spend my days looking wistfully out windows wondering "What if?". The fact is that simple joys can be brought to bear in any walk of life. I almost look at it as a personal mission to incorporate some of these values to my place in this world. Sure it would be wonderful to live in a picturesque village in the French Alps. But I think that there are lifestyle lessons here that can be lived every day, even for a suburban husband and father in Texas (which, I might add, isn't such a bad place to be either).
I believe that there is another chapter in my life waiting to be written. Life can be difficult and complex, to be sure, but only to the extent that we allow it to be. Therefore I hope to make the next chapter in my life one of contentment rather than avarice, generosity rather than greed, and conservation rather than consumption. I'd love to visit this village someday. It might require me to learn to ski (OK!) but I'd love to share some quiet and some clean mountain air.
But for now I'll enjoy the warm Texas sunshine.
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