A few years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Carrick Esquivel, a young man who was just finishing up his formal education. Today he is Carrick Esquivel, the artist and illustrator who brilliantly creates graphic novels. Carrick is a special man, one who would understand Theodore Roosevelt’s directive, “Do what you can with what you have, where you are.”
Carmen and I hosted her friend and Carrick when they visited Alaska, and he and I bonded over a love of wildlife and wild settings. Over Christmas we received a card from Carrick, with a picture he had taken of one of the last huge African tusker elephants. He had just returned from a trip to Kenya. In his note, he reminded me of a conversation we had while watching several moose feed in a field. “There will come a time when the most valuable thing in the world is the ability to be alone.” I truly believe this.
Others in the writing community ask what keeps me in Alaska, so far from the heartbeat of the publishing industry. My career would certainly be easier if I still spent much of my life in New York, Chicago or Seattle.
Carrick’s next trip will be to India to study tigers and Indian elephants, and then to draw them.
Carrick travels to find those places that are still natural, where you can sit on a rock by yourself for hours without the disruption of society, places where you can evaluate your life. I live in such a place, and it makes me a better person and writer.
When life has challenges, find your place to be alone; better yet, alone in the natural world.