Our Human Skins

I remember about day 27 on a road trip across the Western states.. driving across Nevada. The windows in my car were rolled down, my hair was a wild mass of uncombed blond curls, several adventures worth of sweat and dirt clinging to my body. I remember thinking right at that moment how legitimately undomesticated and pure I felt. It was a content roar inside my head that embraced every tarnished, sunburned freckle of my exhausted human self. In that moment I was content to BE.. unabridged and relaxed.

Don't get me wrong, I am not addicted to perpetually smelling like a wet mountain lion.. but I do believe there is a goodness to be found in giving ourselves the liberty to be human - however scruffy, disheveled, pungent and brutally honest that may appear.
This is not a statement about "getting back to nature, man" (Although I like that idea).. this is something more realistic for all of us.. cutting ourselves some slack.
I think its critical for our sanity and well being that we let each other exist as human people - unprocessed, imperfect, and supremely beautiful. Almost every day I either feel judgement coming towards me, or I pass judgement toward other people based on nothing more than appearance. It is a sad place when we AS HUMANS do not allow ourselves the fullness of the HUMAN experience.
I think we're starving for it.. starving to just relax into our own bodies for once and not be judged or critiqued.
I want to admit my own humanity.. I have faults, I have fears, I have weakness,.. and that's OK. We all do. I do not want to exist in a world that denies or conceals the struggle and the wonder of the true life. We miss a lot when we are not resting in our own human skins.






Andrew Tipton