Joey Returns - A Guest Post

(Despite his utter disdain for the blogging community, my son Joey decided to take me up on my standing offer to guest post on this blog following his recent vacation. Be sure not to miss the heart-stopping video at the end.)

The Grand Canyon




About a week before I was due to arrive at the Grand Canyon, my brother and I discussed whether or not to make a brocho on this natural wonder. We both found rabbonim who discussed the issue and held that a brocho should be made, but a definitive source could not be found. And so the question of making a brocho on the Grand Canyon remained somewhat up in the air.

Until I saw it.

The day started with a lengthy bus drive out to the desert. A stop at the Hoover Dam, no small sight in its own right, helped alleviate some of the boredom. On the way, we were shown a video of the formation and history of the Grand Canyon. The attempts made by the narrator to make the Canyon's development sound like a natural and scientific process seemed almost laughable. The complexity and sheer beauty of almost the entire landmark was shouting that something bigger than science was at work here. And that was only after seeing just video and pictures.

There's an old saying - "There are no atheists in foxholes." I think that there are no atheists at the Grand Canyon either, so long as you're willing to open your eyes.

We arrived in Grand Canyon National Park around midday. Dropped off at a lodge inside the park, we were told to go through the back where we would find one of the most popular vistas for viewing the canyon; a wonderful place to see it for the first time.

I will never forget how I felt walking out that back door. I have seen the Swiss Alps, the New York Skyscrapers, the wildlife of California and the beaches of Florida. None of it can compare to the awe inspiring and majestic Canyon. I've heard and read many times about people's breath catching in their throat but I've never had it happen to me like it did at that moment. The question of making a brocho was answered in my mind in the blink of an eye, and I didn't hesitate to
take advantage. Words, like pictures and video, cannot come close to doing the Grand Canyon justice. Every color, cliff, crevice and light shift brought a new view and a new perspective. It is impossible to have "seen" the Grand Canyon because there are an infinite amount of ways to see it. Nothing made by man can ever compare. It is a gift from above and a peek into the wonder that Hashem can bestow on us.

When Theodore Roosevelt saw the Canyon, he ordered that nothing was to be done to improve it. This is one creation that cannot be improved and it would be folly to even contemplate trying.

There was something about that place that makes one want to experience as much of it as one can. And so I climbed. Every cliff and edge had a better view than the last. Hopefully you can see some of the pictures and video I took on some of the more precarious places. Let's just say that if my mom knew just how close to the edge I was getting she would not be thrilled. But I couldn't help it. Being out on those edges in those surroundings was an unimaginable rush. I just had to make sure not to shake too much when I got nervous.

An old Native American poet once wrote "We can embrace that which we know to be beautiful even if we cannot understand what makes it so." But we do know. We do understand. We can appreciate the Grand Canyon knowing that it was the work of Heaven and Heaven alone.

That's the true brocho of the Grand Canyon.

(G6 talking: .... and just in case anybody out there doesn't know where mother's gray hairs come from.........)