"It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards."
-- Edward Abbey
from a speech entitled "Joy, Shipmates, Joy!" delivered September 24, 1976
i'd like to add, that though Abbey's words here are wise, they don't fully encapsulate why Abbey was such an awesome dude. i think he'd agree that right now, we need to advocate and practice an equal mixture of fighting for and enjoying nature's gifts.
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