By Roger Barbee
Reading Old Journals
Reading old journals can be an unsettling or a rich experience. Having thought of some of my journals from the mid-1990’s and later that I had shoved into a drawer of a file cabinet residing in a closet, I decided to pull them out and organize them in chronological order. I realized that I would need to read them, not too closely, but close enough to get the flavor of whatever day, month, and year in which I had written. I opened the first one remembering that Rick Bragg writes in All Over But the Shoutin’ “…dreaming backwards can carry a man through some dark rooms where the walls seem lined with razor blades.”
Reading the first journal that is over twenty years old opened a window to a life half-forgotten. Reading my thoughts of events and people in my then life, most entries surprised or pleased me and a few read as if they were of someone else’s life. Yet one entry was not about me but something I had thought enough of to copy into the journal without naming where I had found it. Fortunately I had cited an author, whether correct or not.
A July 2000 entry read “Found this” and was followed by what I had copied from somewhere– “Walker’s Decalogue by Howard Zahniser.” Like so many entries, I did not remember anything about this one and not knowing anything about Howard Zahniser I did a quick Internet search and read about his brief but impressive life. His accomplishment as the primary author of the Wilderness Act which Congress passed in 1964 reveals his love and appreciation for wilderness. In his 2016 essay about Zahinser’s achievements, Max Greenberg for the Wilderness Society paid tribute to him in these words, “He was just a dogged man who did the good, hard work of preserving our natural heritage for generations to come.”
However, what I was most interested in was the “Walker’s Decalogue.” Whether Zahinser had written it, or I had been mistaken in my journal entry of 2000 became secondary. Regardless of its authorship, here is what I had written in my journal, and I am as awed by it now as I obviously had been when I copied it.
Walker’s Decalogue by Howard Zahniser
1. Don’t pack your troubles in your rucksack
2. Don’t grouse at the weather
3. Don’t miss opportunities of friendship with man or beast
4. Don’t walk half a yard in front of your companion
5. Don’t overfeed your body
6. Don’t starve your mind
7. Don’t overwork your legs
8. Don’t lose your temper if you lose your way
9. Don’t leave anything behind you but a good impression
10. Don’t take anything away but pleasant memories
Now, I grant that a reader could argue that the decalogue is too negative because of the Don’ts, or a reader could argue for subtraction or addition to the ten. However, I ask the reader to see the decalogue as positive suggestions for a metaphorical journey since we all, whether out on a hike or just travelling to work, are on a journey. In fact, our lives are packed with journeys such as a trip to a grocery, or a drive to visit a friend, and any number of longer/shorter journeys whether we walk, ride, run, fly, or float-we are sojourners.
Any list is bound to engender a discussion for favorites, and I admit to being partial to Don’t number 4 because every journey is made better when shared with another traveler.
