Creating a new "norm"

Greetings from Nome Alaska (on my lunch brake)

So, taking a "working lunch" I decided to not answer the phone and make it a non-working lunch time. I usually use my lunch time as a self-imposed breathing time. Spiritually reflecting and mediating to get my spirit and mind straight after dealing with cases for most of the day...

My family is from all over the lower 48 and enjoying not nearly as cold a winter as we have not to mention far less snow, even though we haven't begun to see the amount of snow that will hit. What is considered a snow storm down south we had hit up here a few weeks ago and it was considered flurries! But hard enough wind and snow to knock out power all over town and phone lines. Computers go black and phones go dead. Not a bad thing for a day in my line of work. :)

Nome is a place that most only know about from the movie "Balto." I remember watching shows where they would mention Nome and it was just a foreign place that I didn't give much thought to. Now, it's a different story. Living here is like living in a different world. Not even spending much time explaining the culture and how to live here, the envioronment it'self is one of a kind. Depending on what you find beautiful, Nome could be considered beautiful, or it could be considered ugly and to most uninhabitable. I love where we live. The people, the winter, the summer, the ocean, and the tundra. All of what Nome has to offer, my family loves. No, we don't have all the conveniences of Wal Mart and fast food restaraunts, but we don't need those. Living where we do makes you realize what is a need and what is a want. The reality is: we think we need most of what we are accustomed to having. This is in no way true. In fact, we don't need half the stuff that fills our lives. We don't need fast food ( and our bodies would thank us for not having it), we don't need Wal Mart (while convenient it takes money that would be better spent somewhere else), we don't need traffic and fast pased life, we don't need to drive for miles and miles using up fuel that is rising in price (in Nome it's over 5$ a gallon). The things we think we need, I believe we would be shocked to find that is not a necessity for survival if it came down to it.

Boy would people be shocked if a time came where the things that make life easier were not available anymore. I think about the Jews prior to and after the Haulocost who lived very differently. They had to learn to live on much less. The clothing, food, and furniture that held value, was no longer a need. A warm coat and some bread and beans meant more than the fasion and expensive foods.

Let's face it, we have created the beast of "keeping up with the Jones's" mentality that palgues us all. I enjoy the releif from all the stress of the outside world. When I have to make a trip to Anchorage or the lower 48 it isn't long before I am tired of the convienence of things. I long to come home to Nome. I long to be where things are slower and I don't have the ability to walk out the door and drive a little bit to fill my body with food that I shouldn't eat to begin with. Call it a matter of will power, or just what it is: The ability to have at the touch of a finger or the press of a pedal enables to get what you want.

So from Nome to you, hey: slow down and get away from Wal Mart, the movie theaters, the fast food restaraunts, the stylish clothing, and video games. Stay in stay warm, and enjoy a board game or music with the family! Turn off the cell phone and TV. Do something that is out of the norm and create a new "norm."

Blessings,

Mike III AKA: Big Daddy