hippie wannabe

The main reason that I am posting this picture is because I want to post it on my profile and this was the only way I could figure how to do it, so here's a picture of me kayaking and looking very much like an American Indian wannabe at the same time. Not because of the blue kayak or anything but because of the simple braid in the back.

My older sister would say that this picture represented the hippie inside of me. Although I am not a hippie I'm also not insulted but such a remark. As a lover of nature and the environment as well as all things created I don't think that being called a hippie is all that bad of a thing. After all the definition of a hippie is:

unconventional young person of the 1960s: a young person, especially in the 1960s, who rejected accepted social and political values and proclaimed a belief in universal peace and love. Hippies often dressed unconventionally, lived communally, and used psychedelic drugs. ( informal )

Granted I wasn't a young person of the 1960's nor am I into psychedelic drugs. However the ideas of rejecting "accepted social and political values and proclaiming a belief in universal peace and love." Are things that I could be categorized as. Part of being a Christian has to do with being "set apart" from the world around you and following a Christ who wants peace and love to abound in His world. Not only that but He wants His followers to share in community with each other, and those around them. Humans were not meant to be alone and to isolate ourselves from others is only going to hurt us.

Anyways I really love this picture. It was taken by a good friend with a great eye for composition in a picture, and a thoughtfulness that astounds me. He often surprises me with the way that he can see something that I didn't notice before. I'm the type of person that takes tons and tons of pictures hoping that a few will turn out to be great, where as he will take in everything in his surroundings and sort of frame the picture out in his mind before taking the picture. It's a good lesson to learn in photography and one that I am still working on but taking time in anything you do to consider the outcome can be rewarding.