cabin fever...or not?

Recently I worked at a sleep away camp in the Southeastern Berkshires. This is the place where I truly learned my love of the land, the tree and the mountains. I worked as a biking instructor to small children as well as a bunk counselor to a group of fourteen year old boys.

I loved the simple life.

actually, I love the simple life.

I would wake my kids up every morning, teach some biking lessons and watch them grow every single day for 2 months.

As well as getting to know most of the kids in camp, I knew every single staff member at the camp as well as all the maintenance and cooking crew. I knew that at any point I could sit down and see someone I liked and understood within a few minutes. If at any point I felt bad or I felt real good I could have someone immediately to talk too. In a certain way also, I was able to communicate with more ease to the people around me because we were all in a similar situation. I felt calm, safe and happy. Even more, I felt healthy and able to take care of myself and live the way I wanted to live. I believe in community.

On the other hand, something suspicious would always drive me to the local Mobil convenience store every hour off I had to buy the most recent NYTimes. I would then run to the staff lounge with my headphones on and sit down at a table and try to blaze through as much as I could within the hour given.

Why did I do this?

I seemed to have this basic drive to need to know what was happening in the rest of the world. Every time I read the paper I left annoyed, finding out about recent conflicts in places like Pakistan and Israel that would not make my day any brighter.

Why did I force myself to leave this community once everyday even though it's a place where I find a communal peace?

Is peace everything?