There is something very appealing about the great outdoors for me. Before I elaborate, please be informed I am not your everyday nature-enthusiast. Far from it actually. I like a good hike, I like nature, and the feeling it instills in me, but I choose a nice boutique resort over setting up and sleeping in a small-sized tent…any day. I choose luxury over places deprived of the bare human necessities…any day. Any-day, trust me. Whatever…what attracts me most about nature is its rawness. Its ruggedness. Its expansiveness. It humbles me, you see. It humbles me to be surrounded by mountains. It humbles me to look out over the vast expanse of an ocean. It humbles me to look at the sky and see an infinite and incomprehensible amount of stars. Seeing earth’s greatness and magnificence makes me realise I am but a mere mortal, too small to be significant. And at times I need that reminder, for myself, to see that everything about life is relative, and can be put into perspective…
Yet, what nature’s essence also shows me is that, as a human, I am too large not to be significant. Because when I walk on the face of the earth, feet in the dirt, conquering the height of another hillside, I feel alive. I feel my power and ability. I feel my human potential and the privilege bestowed on me for being a man. I stand at the feet of victory, success and achievement if I desire. If I allow my sweat to be an expression of my magnificence and my footprints’s imprints in the sand to be the reminder of my greatness. Here, I have the capacity to transcend my mortality and know I can surmount the modesties of my life. Nature, and allowing to be challenged by it, provides me with a knowing that I can triumph over life’s challenges, and progress if I am willing to commit.
I guess I digress…
The reason why I titled this piece ‘into Scotland’ was not for me to speak of its nature, or of nature’s significance in general. The reason I wanted to write to you about Scotland is because of the significance this country has for me….