Insight is input, I am output

In the front of my journal, I have five fortune cookie messages pasted in, all collected before I left.

"Your principles mean more to you than money or success."

"Reasonable people endure, passionate people live."

"The concern of others will make your trip a delight."

"Look with favor upon a bold beginning."

"A wise man knows everything, a shrewd one, everybody."

From the bum under the bridge in Reno:

"Good people and good places. That's what life's all about. Oh, and good food too."

From Yogi master Bill,

"I said to my friend from China, 'I think I know what makes a life happy. Good health, good food, and good friends."

'Yes, very good, Bill.' my friend replied, 'but you forget one thing.'

Bill: 'Oh yeah? What's that?'

His friend: 'Spirit, Bill.'

Me: 'Ha, he got you!'

Bill: 'No, he taught me.'"

Also from Bill...

"This is how enlightened my friend is. One day, as I sat on his porch by a large chime, watching the workers in the garden, he walks over to me and places his hand on my shoulder. And then, in one swift, loud movement, he clanged his knuckle on the chime. The workers looked up at us annoyed. He just smiled. And then, he took both his hands and played beautiful music on that chime and put them and myself right back where he got us from. Then he walked away."

From Antonio, a ride, about his service in Somalia...

"There was one guy in our unit who was fucking awesome with a grenade launcher. We would set up targets, no bigger than a person, get in a jeep, and while moving, he'd fire at the highest speed, FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM FOOM, and they'd be smoke. But then, on our first day of real combat, we were riding in two jeeps into a hot area. And he was all bragging, "Yeah, I'ma gonna kill me a whole sackful today." But then, when the bullets actually started flying out at us, he got so nervous that his hands were totally shaking. He fired his first round, and it blew up the other jeep. Five men in that jeep. They were my friends. Later, we were told what happened. We had to shut up. They died in combat, that was that. Their families would receive the Medal of Honor, and we would never talk about it again. But I'll tell you what, that night, we went to his tent and kicked the shit out of him. We beat the living hell out of him."

Not sure...

"Reason is but an item in the mystery; and behind the proudest conciousness that ever reigned, reason and wonder blushed face to face. The inevitable stales, while doubt and hope are sisters."

Lint, another thru hiker, on his thought process toward the hike,

"I'm tired of safe and sane! I want dumb and dangerous!"

Lint, again.

"So, I'm bombing my bike down this steep hill in Portland. Down at the intersection, this woman in a big white SUV comes to the stop sign, looks up at me, and just rolls right through. So, I have to squeeze the brakes, and come screeching to a halt. Then, I turn, and follow her, because I'm going to give her a piece of my mind. And she's blowing through all the signs now, because she sees me behind her and she doesn't want me to catch up. But I do, at the light. I tell her to roll down her window. She does, just a crack. I say, "Lady, do you realize you could have killed me back there?" She's on her cell phone and gives me a thin smile and says, "Well, maybe you should be more careful." and rolls her window back up. So, I pull out my pocket knife, pop the bitch's tire, and ride on."

Georgi, trail angel in Old Station...

"Love is really quite simple. All you must do is nurture a feeling that you want good things for the other person. That's what it comes down to. That's all it is. And if you can do that, you can love."

Story, thru-hiker.

"So, in the trail registers, I created this girl named Wildflower. And she'd always write real cute things in the comments box, maybe mention she was lonely on her solo hike. And other guys would catch up to me and be like, "So, have you seen Wildflower lately?" and I would say, "Oh yeah, man, she's only like a day ahead. Real nice girl." and they'd say "Thanks" and speed off. Ha ha ha ha ha."

A conversation between me and Pan, the craziest bum I met in Reno.

Pan: I'm watching you, man.

Me: Oh yeah?

Pan: I can see what you're doing.

Me: And what am I doing?

Pan: You're judging me. You're weighing me over in your mind. You're analyzing me, trying to figure something out. You're looking for something, some hint that I am like, trustworthy or something.

Me: Sounds like you're doing the same thing to me.

Pan: You bet. I got you all figured out. You wanna hear who you are?

Me: Go for it.

Pan: You ever seen the Matrix?

Me: Of course.

Pan: But did you understand it?

Me: Uh, I think so...

Pan: Explain it to me.

Me: Okay... the mind of mankind creates a machine that builds a construct for mankind's mind to keep him imprisoned while the machines, in turn, use them to power the machinery.

Pan: ...What? Huh? Look, you're smart enough to use words like "contruct", but you didn't even get the fuckin' movie. It's like this, man. There are citizens and lost kids in this world. If you're still working for the machine, you're one of the citizens. But once you realize the truth, you can break free. You can take the red pill, man. Like you and I have. We're lost kids, man. But you, you're a little different. You're like the guy with the steak. You're out, but you still want to remember what steak tastes like.

Me: ...you are absolutely right.

A bunch of hitchhikers collected at the Rainbow Gathering, all trying to get out...

1: Your van is empty! Come on!

2: What are you doing?

3: Dude, that's not cool.

1: What?

3: You can't be bitter like that.

2: Not while hitchhiking.

4: Yeah, that's bad vibes, man.

Me: If you want love, you gotta give it, bro.

2: Trust, patience, love, and luck. That's hitchhiking, my friend.

3: Ha, that's just plain ol' good living.