The Indiana Mask

As I look out my window I can see a winter wonderland of white floating down to the ground. I love snow drifts when they’re perfectly formed and untainted by car tires, plows, or the muck of activity. In the past weeks I have enjoyed the simple sites of bird or cat footprints in the fresh snow. Today we have accumulated far more inches than we have all winter. Finally! It’s not winter in Indiana until you have a big snow storm.

The snow is coming a bit late though and this morning I have found myself browsing online for Spring clothing. I saw a few pictures of new outfits with a tropical backdrop and was reminded of Costa Rica once again.

How can you forget a place like this? It is so naturally beautiful with plant and wildlife that it needs nothing to dress it up. One of the first things I noticed when I returned to Indiana was how much we decorate and landscape our lives in the United States. When Alejandro and I first stepped into our apartment after the trip I felt a bit strange. I have a nicely decorated apartment, but I don’t really “need” all of the decoration.

I noticed this even more the day after we returned and visited a doctor to check up on an eye infection I contracted in Costa Rica. The hospital and doctors office was painted with soothing tones and had comforting stale pictures on the walls. It was all designed to make the patient feel comfortable when they’re really not. I had the same exact eye appointment in Costa Rica in a simple building with no soothing paint and art on the walls – and it was cheaper.

We’ve been back from Costa Rica now for about 4 weeks and I still feel like I must return. We weren’t there long enough. I was there long enough to realize that the people of the United States spend far more time and energy trying to create false ideas of comfort than they do actually enjoying and participating in raw reality. However, I haven’t figured out how to break myself out of that false sense of comfort. In fact, I’m part of the engine that creates it.

I like the mask, but I think I need to take it off. Until I can figure out how to do that I guess I’ll enjoy the site of snow covering the harsh cold turf and think about my next excursion beyond the US border.