Musings From the Wild of Värmland

Carlos Viitanen July 6, 2015 2 Comments

This past week served as a great time for some reflection and much needed time in nature. Traveling from Stockholm, we took a train to Karlstad where we met with my Aunt Marita and her husband Lennart. They drove us for about an hour to their cabin near Årjäng in the county of Värmland (there are no provinces in Sweden, only counties), in the west of Sweden, near Norway. On the way to the cabin they told us about some of the countryside and nature we would see and described it as “too beautiful.” When we arrived and I stepped out of the car I understood what they meant. My breath was literally taken away. We were in the middle of the forest, on a little homestead next to a lake. Sounds like heaven to me.

  
Aunt Marita’s Cabin

We were treated so well by our hosts. Between Marita’s amazing cooking and Lennart’s tales of adventure, we felt right at home. I am so grateful to all of my family who have treated my friends and I so well these past few weeks. Literally above and beyond. Our experiences could not have been more pleasant.

Caden and Blake stayed in a one room cottage outside the cabin, and I stayed in the cabin loft. The loft was only big enough to crouch in but it was amazing because the window let me see the moon shining on the lake between my feet when I laid down for bed. It was unreal.

Our first full day there, they took us on a drive to see some of the surrounding countryside and some of the river technology that is used locally to transport sailboats and canoes from lake to lake using areas that fill up with water to allow a level passage between lakes and rivers that are not on equal elevation. It was simply beautiful country.

  

During our stay there they also took us on their favorite hike around the area, and we had a picnic close to a well of absolutely some of the freshest water I have ever tasted. They even allowed us full access on their canoe and kayak, which we took full advantage of. We rowed out almost every single day to our favorite island that we found, spending the day eating our packed lunches, jumping from the cliffs and discussing life’s intricacies (mainly, our favorite childhood Pokemon memories. By the way, mom and dad, thanks for hooking it up with that Gameboy Color. I was the coolest kid in the neighborhood).

Naturally, some time with Mother Nature sparked some time for me to think by myself and to do a lot of thinking and reading. I was able to finish the Alchemist, which was given to me by a dear friend back home. I loved its message because I felt like it applied a lot to me and my situation where I feel like I’m chasing my “Personal Legend.” I don’t know why I’m in Europe right now, I just know I’m supposed to be here. And I’ll know the next step when I see it. Anyway, this week was very good for some personal reflection as well as some thinking about the world and life in general so I thought I would share some of them with you all. I thought a lot about this, since there is a lot of personal opinion in this, and didn’t want to turn this into a philosophically controversial blog but, then again, it is a blog about my thoughts and my life so I have every right to say whatever I want because Internet. So here goes!

Man And Nature

Why do we live in cities? I wish I could go back in time to when the hunter-gatherers started forming communities and say, “you’re making a huge mistake!” OK, yes, I understand. It’s convenient, it’s efficient, etc. Cities and large gatherings of human beings in a concentrated area are essential for productivity. Fine. But have you ever drank water from a natural well or wondered where the heck you were, but then realize you didn’t care? Because both of those things happened to me this week.

I’m sure there are many people who thrive in an urban situation. Everyone is different. Some people like the hustle and bustle of city life. Personally, however, I know that it is not for me. And I believe that human beings are better off without that lifestyle, and that we were made to live in nature. Many who struggle with depression overcome their mental illness thanks to programs that feature “nature therapy.” Tell me, when have you ever heard of “city therapy?” Don’t worry, I’ll wait! If being in nature is so therapeutic – what with the peace, tranquility, self-reflection – then why don’t we all do it, 100% of the time?

Every time I think about being caught up in the “urban lifestyle” I cringe. Being angry at everyone and everything around you because you are late for work, or to a meeting. Spilling coffee in your car because you’re driving too fast. Blaming everyone but you, even inanimate objects (I can say this because this is something I would do all the time, it’s quite hilarious actually. “Damn this red light for conspiring to hold me at this intersection at this exact time. It’s like it doesn’t want me to be to work on time…” WHAT?! Please tell me I’m not the only person who has ever thought these things because that is absolutely crazy!) All I know is that almost everything that stresses me out in life has to do with city life. Schedules, transportation (missing buses/trains being one of them, so don’t ask me why I am backpacking across Europe. I guess this is one I have to overcome!), to-do lists, MONEY MONEY MONEY.

Please don’t think that I am promoting a slothful, “I’ll get to it eventually” lifestyle where there are no obligations or standards to be met, or opportunities to grow and become a valuable member of society. In fact, living properly in the wild demands the opposite. But when have you ever felt stressed while watching a family of ducks swimming across the lake? Or, while playing a guitar and listening to the wind carry the melody? For me, at least, nature provides absolutely no stress (and if not having a proper shower or bathroom stresses you out, by all means stay in your apartment).

Gay Marriage

HERE WE GO EVERYONE! Yes, I want to say something about this. Hope no one gets offended. There’s really no reason to. I’m just going to say what I honestly feel in my heart. Doesn’t mean I think it’s right or wrong in the eyes of God, it’s just my humble and HUMAN opinion which is always susceptible to error and flaw. If I ever feel like the opinion is flawed, then I will consider changing it. But here is my honest thought.

First of all, in a world that is every morning balancing on the edge of some nuclear catastrophe over oil rights or some other stupid thing, can we really afford to be wasting time and effort fighting against love? Really, two people loving each other is more of a concern to us than the amount of hate that we see in the world today? As far as I’m concerned, we need as much love as we can get in this world! We shouldn’t be fighting to keep any rights from consenting adults who are in love!

Look, homosexuality is not appealing to me. I don’t find it attractive to look at, and I don’t enjoy it, and never have. I am just not sexuality stimulated by men in the way that I am by women, that’s how I was made. But, hey, no one asks me what I do in my bedroom (figuratively speaking, of course. I don’t have a bedroom right now). Why should the government care? Does it really affect me if two people in Kansas, for example, who love each other and are homosexual want to get married? NO! It doesn’t do anything to me. Loads of homosexual couples are getting married all over the country and guess what – nothing has changed! You still wake up in the morning, go to your job, come home, and have a fantastic day! In a land of liberty, you should be free to do whatever you please to exercise that liberty as long as it doesn’t infringe on someone else’s rights to their liberty as well. Does that condone someone walking into a church and shooting the place up because they don’t like black people? No, because that would imply infringing on those people’s rights to live. Does that mean that it’s OK to steal things? No, because you are messing with peoples’ right to property. Does that mean that gay people should be able to get married? Yes, because if gay people are getting married doesn’t mean that you have to become gay too. Don’t agree with gay marriages? I suggest that you don’t get married to someone of your same gender then! Simple as that.

I just don’t think it’s right that a country that prides itself on religious freedom and advertises it as if it were the only country to offer that, uses the Bible as the primary argument against homosexual marriage. Look, you can’t call yourself “The Land of The Free” and “a Judaeo-Christian Nation” in the same breath. It doesn’t work. The founding fathers never established a Christian state. In fact, the pilgrims fled England because that’s exactly what they were trying to escape. So, you can’t make laws based on arguments that are religious. I’m not saying I don’t agree with certain religious views, I’m just saying that politically speaking, it’s not right. Church and State MUST be separate. In theory, no matter how religious (or not) you are, you should support the legalization of gay marriage because you also likely believe in the separation of church and state. 

That being said, the recent ruling in favor of gay marriage in the United States comes as great news to me, and I can say that I was actually very excited when I heard the news. This is very different to how I would have felt a few years ago when I was admittedly homophobic. Do you want to know what actually changed my mind? When I had to write an argumentative paper for my sociology class at BYU and argue the opposite of my opinion for a controversial topic. I chose gay rights (probably because I was writing it the night before and it would be easy) and I realized that the only arguments I could think of against gay marriage were scriptures! That doesn’t sound right to me! How could I possibly tell a gay couple that their love is invalid to be considered for marriage because my God and my Bible forbid it, when they live in a country that grants them the freedom to not even believe in a God?

Now, although the legalization of gay marriage is a step in the right direction, I believe the best conclusion would be, again, the separation of church and state by taking government out of marriage altogether, and leaving that to the church (allowing the government to issue civil unions to all consenting couples. And no, this does not include pedophiles and those who participate in bestiality because those do not involve consent, for all you “slippery slopers”). Also, I think it was absolutely wrong for the White House to display the rainbow and for gay couples to participate in sacrilege in order to celebrate the ruling.

Again, this is all just opinion, and if you don’t agree with the ruling, then don’t. That’s fine. You have a right to express that. In fact, you should! I hope you do! How boring it would be to live in a world where everyone had the same opinions about everything. 

Bottom line, respect is key. On both sides. The answer is respect, love, and understanding. None of which involve you giving up your own beliefs or lifestyle. You don’t have to be gay or non-religious to support gay marriage. Just like you can be a disrespectful bigot even if you’re gay. Respect.

Nationalism and Pride

Happy 4th of July everyone! It was really interesting to experience the holiday outside of the United States (which means we didn’t). We took a trip into Oslo for the day and explored, literally walking around the whole city in a day. But more on that later. We actually saw quite a few locals wearing American apparel, which was interesting. We didn’t really “miss” it per se, because we are here to experience other cultures, not our own. But it did get me thinking (which can sometimes be a bad thing).

My feeds on social media were crammed with funny memes about how awesome America is, how great life is there, etc. And I agree. How could I be living there and taking advantage of the amazing lifestyle the country offers and not be grateful. Also, how could I be an immigrant to the country and not be grateful for the opportunities it has offered my parents and I? But, it did make me think alot about nationalism and pride.

It’s never healthy to think that a country is “better” than another. First of all, there are so many ways to determine the “greatness” of countries (culture, economy, health), in many of which, by the way, the United States does not rank highly. Through what I’ve studied in history, one of the causes for the great downfall of the Roman Empire was a general feeling throughout the government and public of invincibility and dominance (a certain “manifest destiny” if you will. Sound familiar?) of the Roman state compared to others around it. Pride, in essence.  Now, I’m not talking about the United States alone, I’m talking about anywhere – wherever you’re from. We had so many Swedes crack jokes about the “backwards Norwegians” and so many Finns talk about how less “manly” the Swedes were. Although there were some interesting differences, having visited all of those countries it’s pretty safe to say that in general they are quite similar. You can’t suggest that you’re better than someone just because your flag looks different. There lie the seeds of Nationalism, which as we have seen many times in history, can be a true slippery slope to some scary times.

Is it good to be proud of where your heritage, country, and where you’re from? Absolutely! I would be a total hypocrite otherwise because I am extremely proud of having blood from Finland and Spain. But to truly believe that where you live is just naturally better because it has liberty, freedom, etc. can be unhealthy because, first of all, most places have those things and second of all, as stated before it can promote a false and dangerous feeling of natural superiority and invincibility. I have wondered why American tourists are so looked down on in Europe and now I have seen it with my own eyes. It’s because they walk around acting like they own the place (insert “if it weren’t for us, you’d be speaking German” jokes here), being loud and boisterous and expecting, almost demanding, that people in a foreign country speak English. Once again, it comes down to respect. Everywhere on this amazing Earth has something great to offer. After all, America has the Green Bay Packers, for crying out loud. Who knows what this world would do without Aaron Rodgers?

So, I hope everyone got to shoot off some fireworks, have some good barbecue and celebrate the birth of a great nation! But more than anything else, I hope we remember that we are, first, citizens of Earth!

Oslo

Oslo was an interesting city. We only had a day here so we wanted to see as much as we could. We started with the Oslo Operahouse, which was built in typical Scandinavian modern and abstract style. It was very cool. Built of pure marble, it was slanted so one could actually walk on top of it. Since it was made of marble, it was also extremely bright and white in the noon sun.

  
There were several other cool areas and neighborhoods of the city we saw while walking, but there was a major theme of the city that definitely stood out: the celebration of the human body and life. About 90% of the statues all around the town featured naked men and women. In fact, Frogner Park, a huge public park in the middle of the city, seemed to be dedicated to these sculptures. Here, countless families were barbecuing (unrelated note: it was the Fourth of July), napping, and enjoying their time together amidst hundreds of statues of people of all shapes, sizes, and ages in various different forms and involved in different activities. The display seemed to promote the removal of the sexual taboo from the woman body, for example, featuring her in many different beautiful poses. Celebrating her as she is, not as an object for male pleasure. I must say, the park in general with all of its naked statues was quite strange and sometimes comical, since I haven’t been raised in a culture like that, but it was incredibly intriguing. After all, I think there were some pieces that were meant to make the observer laugh (a naked, enraged, father chasing after his mischievous naked son, for example. Weird, I know). But I liked this side of Oslo because it showed human beings as they were created and in different stages of human life: sadness, happiness, youth, adulthood, old age. It was pretty interesting to see!

  
  
  
  
As I thought about this I thought about the perception of the body in my own mind and in my culture. So much emphasis is placed on what beauty is in our society and so much time and effort is spent on chasing it. Our magazines have photoshopped women plastered on them to make 10 year old girls who see them want to do whatever they can to look like that. The sad news is, they never will. Because women like that don’t exist! Also, everyone has a different opinion on what an attractive woman really is (for me, a backbone and mind of her own, an appreciation for sarcasm, and good taste in music are a few attractive qualities that you won’t see on a magazine cover).

  
The same goes for men, too. I have had serious problems and insecurities about my body for most of my life. I have a genetic tendency to gain weight in areas I don’t particularly like, and it seems to take me much more to maintain a fit body than it does for others. That has always bothered me. Although recently I have been coming to terms with my body for what it is and to love it, I could still see some improvement in this area of self-acceptance. It is always good for me to remember that, although it is extremely important to take care of the body, it is also extremely unhealthy to stress over physical appearance. If there is something that you don’t like about your body, make healthy plans and goals to change that. Then, accept that there are some things you have no control over. Genetics, for example. By the way, I’m writing this more for myself than anyone else. I struggle with this almost every day. The way I see it, if working out and dedicating a lot of time in the gym makes YOU happy, then do it. But that should never be used as a way to gain affirmation from anyone else but yourself. If people don’t appreciate you because of the way that your body looks, then they don’t deserve you, plain and simple (on a human to human basis of respect, not romantically. Let’s say, if you were considered disabled or overweight or “unattractive” in general. Romantic physical tastes vary from person to person).

Beauty is such a hard word, because it is so hard to define. Society and big “beauty companies” try to define it for us. Symmetrical faces, skinny waists, thigh gaps, whatever. You know what’s beautiful? A heart that FREAKING PUMPS BLOOD ALL DAY LONG without you having to tell it to. Eyes that take light and transmit it into a message that your brain can see and understand. Ears that detect vibrations in your surroundings. Noses that tell you when dinner’s ready. The human body is a beautiful thing, and every human is beautiful. It’s OK to have a “type” or to be attracted to certain qualities, of course, but we must never forget that everyone is beautiful in their own way, and THAT INCLUDES YOU. And me.

Time To Move On

I hope it wasn’t too painful to read about my musings in the cabin and at Oslo. After a few days in the loft of the cabin I moved to another cottage were I was to myself with my thoughts, so I have had a lot to say. Also, I was experiencing some writer’s block as far as music goes, but this trip has been doing wonders for me musically. I have so many ideas everyday that it is hard for me to keep up with them! I can’t wait to get home and play all of my new songs. I’ll be posting some periodically on my music page at facebook.com/carlosviitanenmusic.

  
Tonight we are back in Stockholm where we picked up our Eurail passes which allow us more access to Europe’s long-distance trains and to do some laundry and plan our next course of action. Tomorrow we head towards Copenhagen, and from there to Berlin! I can’t wait to tell you about the lessons and experiences that lie ahead! A big thank you again to all of my family in Scandinavia who have shown us such a great time and taken such good care of us. It is a bittersweet feeling to be leaving the influence of their incredible hospitality, but now the real backpacking adventure begins! We are completely on our own! Sending positive vibes your way! Love you!

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