Hold On Tight

Contributing to the Chaos while Living – Life – Large by Dan Abernathy Welcome to, Contributing to the Chaos while Living – Life – Large, a venue exposing the vast collection of oddities, fascinations, desires and obsessions – a road map of sorts, tracking the life of a man that can’t and won’t fit in. Living – Life – Large is a derivative of words compiled from the often strange life and adventures of the nomadic bus dweller, Dan Abernathy. Trying to label and define myself, I cannot. I am indefinable and prefer to just be. As a society we seem to find comfort and conformation in labels and post-nominal titles, as an individual, we do not. But to appease the wondering masses I will proclaim this one time that perhaps I could be an outlaw poet, artist, reiki master, minister, junkyard philosopher, and a vagabond, searching for the pure hedonistic meaning of living life large. Some of you know me some of you do not. Some of you will want to know me, while others will not. Some of you I imagine, will quickly run screaming in disbelieve of this printed declaration that will be swirling into your eyes, leaving the stinging residue of a dust storm. Whatever reaction is spawned, this is my voice and it is ruled by none. Writing an opinion column is nothing new to me. In years past, more years then I would like to broadcast, the Pinedale Roundup was the birthplace for From The Hip, a column slightly void of description except for being a platform of my observations, quirks and oddities. From The Hip, covered many topics, leaving some with the nod of approval and smile, while others shook their heads in wonder and disbelief. There were readers that responded with praise, aggressive rebuttal and condemnation, or to perhaps just to express their confusion. All however, reacted because the column did what it was expected to do, evoke thought. This thought was, and now is, never delivered proposing you should follow it. It will be written to provoke a thought of your own, what ever that thought may be. Within this realm of writing I expose myself in one of two ways. An unstoppable rant seeming as if like I have consumed four lines of coke, three shots of tequila and seven cups of espresso laced coffee while sitting in the back of an all-night diner, or like the Buddhist monk practicing a vow of Zen calmness where all is good. This is just a slight warning to the way of my being and seldom is there much of an in between. I am about being an individual. I believe you should walk your own path and it should never, two steps behind and to the right. I have been tagged with, contributing to the chaos, and I accept this definition proudly. My way of contributing is about donating to life and living. I believe this should be accomplished with a carefree attitude filled with reckless abandonment, while exuding calmness and compassion amidst the disorder. Our world is in a constant chaotic state, in this capacity of high confusion and disarray, if we carefully look and listen beyond the pandemonium, we can now hear the rumbling of oncoming anarchy. It is said that this is a natural progression as, “we the people,” wait for Plato and Socrates declared arrival of the Philosopher King. So contributing to the chaos, with good and through many obscure facets, is in fact contribute to life. We must live life now, with the way of mindfulness as our future is truly, only tomorrow. This is the only way we can find some contentment and sense of who we are, in a world that is insensibly out of control. For myself, I have been in this game way to long to put my cloths back on now. Nor will I settle down, get a job and find comfort with what many may consider the normal way of living. Within this life that is mine, I can adapt to no rules but my own, and these rules will not allow me walk on anyone else’s footpath. So hold tight to your britches and feel the free blowing wind in your face. This is going to be a fun ride filled with abnormalities and wonder. We will be going places with fresh eyes, places where rules are found, learned and then perhaps bent a bit to ignite thought and a small bit of joy. - dbA