Exploring Casentino Forest

Luglio 17, 2008
Days in Italy: 27
Known Bug-bites: i coin the term galaxy legs
Total Gelato Sessions: 21
Collective Fanta Consumed (mL): 14,640mL
Italy: 9:00 AM
America: 12:00 AM

"The world is so big."

So much profundity to Chelsea's simple utterance. We're told millions of people come by the Casentino forest every year, but Jesse our nature-walk guru assures us he never sees large tourism here. He's right. We're the only ones here. It feels like, for a few moments, we're the only people in the world. It's hard to explain, but I'm sure you already understand.

Along the 6 kilometer hike -which on an incline feels like a lot more than roughly 3 miles - I try to take in the green vastness and the vast greenness of my surroundings. It's crazy to think there are parts of this forest nobody has ever seen, and nobody ever will see. Crevices and cracks, tops of trees and sides of rocks, bits of dirt and moss no human will ever touch. Sometimes it's hard for me to understand that there are parts of this world not intended for mankind to claim.

That's what makes Chelsea's thought so insightful. The world is so big, so much bigger than we understand, so much bigger still that we can hardly understand how we don't understand. I mean, God created this in 6 days? If we can't even comprehend the world in front of us, how much less the secret ways of God?

Sure there are parts of this world man is not meant to know, but in all things God has a purpose. So what's the purpose of knowing that you can't know something? I wouldn't like to pretend like I knew the full answer, but I know that understanding how finite we are is one of the greatest lessons we can learn...and relearn. The hardest thing for a man to do is to accept that he's not God.

Dory ends up hurting her ankle pretty badly coming down the trail and laughs in pain. Dang, she really does laugh at everything but my jokes.