On The Road

“What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? — it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-by. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.”

Wow. What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said. Back in 1951 Mr. Jack Kerouac sat at his type writer loaded in 120 page sheet (so he wouldn't ever have to change pages) and wrote in three weeks this American masterpiece. 

I read this book my freshman year in college and it changed my life. I think I read it four times that year. Maybe it was because I was experiencing my own personal freedom like Kerouac celebrating the time I was given in college to live a wild and crazy life. But there is something about this book that has always stuck with me. I read it at least once a year as a reminder on what I'm looking for in this life. What it is that I find so appealing about my lifestyle, and it always comes back to one word. Freedom. That is what the characters in this classic book were after and that is what I believe we are all after. Freedom from a world of judgment. Freedom from the way things are supposed to be. Freedom to live creatively. Freedom to exist. Freedom to be you. Personal Freedom. 

You can say I pretty much love every word of this book. Which is why I was floored when I saw this video below of Jack reading the last page of "On the Road". Its pretty magical. 

Almost as magical as these words written earlier on in the book. The words that pretty much have defined my last 10 years. 

“I shambled after as I’ve been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes ‘Awww!’”