Kel Norris Entry #7: Reading "Respiration, Transpiration and Inspiration"

Today, I read the professor's paper "Respiration, Transpiration and Inspiration." It details his hike in the Rocky Mountains along the Continental Divide Trail. I enjoyed how he related the regular breathing mechanisms of plants and animals to something more abstract, like human inspiration and connection to wilderness, as well as his own motivation to hike. I especially liked his connection of evil, like that of Adolf Hitler, to fire and how although foreboding, it fails to survive in the presence of "the spirit of life," which is breath, which is water. This symbolism is wonderfully optimistic because it relates the power of Mother Nature to the power of good and justice.

I went on a short hike with my family to the waterfalls in Helen, Georgia. I kind of hated it, and I don't think I could ever be convinced to hike anything like the Continental Divide, but I'm at least inspired to reflect the way the professor has in his paper next time I'm on a walk away from the city.

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