Mountains, Please

March 15, 2025

Water Mountains Forest Rainbow¹

I have always liked to look at the mountains. I am very geographically privileged and there are some very impressive mountains that I can easily see from the area I live in. They are especially vivid in winter and early spring when they are covered in bright snow. I have travelled a little, and I find flat places, where the horizon is a clean line to feel dull and boring.

But especially lately they are nice to contemplate. Amidst the chaos of human affairs they keep on standing. They are solid and real; you can go and touch them. Yet they loom from over the horizon, aloof. They are not changed by what we do or don’t do. They are steady and constant.

But.

Mountains are not actually immutable. Wind and rain erode them. The motions of the crust below raises and lowers them. Some are volcanic, and hold within themselves to reshape hundreds of millions of tons of stone in a matter of minutes (though a quick glance at Wikipedia says that the mountains I am thinking of, the ones I can see when I close my eyes are not volcanic). Even the calm, solid ones still imply the forces required to heave so much matter so high.

I find this balance pleasing, between being so readily metaphorical, yet not too metaphysical.

I saw a rainbow at work the other day. My coworkers aren’t perfect, but at least they are the sort to notice when the conditions are right and say “Hey I bet there’s a rainbow outside.” You can do a lot worse than that. I make an effort now, to appreciate that I live in a world where rainbows are a thing. Isn’t it wonderful to live in such a world?