Finding Zeb Part 2

Ely, Minnesota, a city at the edge of hundreds of miles of wilderness.

It’s a place as far removed from society as you can get while still maintaining a connection to the real world.

My friend, Zeb Butterfield, went to Ely six years ago.

After learning more about what he’s meant to people’s lives, I went to find him.

“Finding Zeb is like maybe looking for Bigfoot I think maybe now-a-days, so I don’t really know what to tell you,” said former music teacher, David Rankila.”

“If you went to three of the different restaurants and asked, I guarantee two if the three will tell you where he is,” said Zeb’s brother, Jake Butterfield.

As I set out, I didn’t know what I’d discover.

Would my expectation meet the reality?

Zeb was just as I remembered him, full of like and laughter, articulate and insightful.

Zeb took me several miles out of town, to his cabin on a lake.

We had to park the car and walk the last few hundred yards.

“My life right now, let’s see, I wake up in the morning typically have a cup of coffee and then I go to work. I work for about eight hours a day, sometimes ten, in the summertime more times ten or twelve hours a day depending and then get off and do the best I can to get into a lake usually,” explained Zeb.

We reminisced about old times, when my life seemed all in front of me.

Now, I’m a TV news reporter shooting video and speaking in public daily.

The pressure faced from everyone’s expectations helped shape my life, but Zeb seemed unfazed by social pressure.

He followed his heart into the woods, removing himself from the civilization that sped past him and disappearing into music.

“Well, before I lived here I lived in a tent for about four months and I suggest everybody does that at least one summer of their life, just live in a tent. It’s not so bad if you set yourself up right.”

He learned so much from his solitary experience that years of school and work never taught me.

“I learned how to be alone, which is a lesson that most people should learn, just how to spend time and not drive yourself crazy because wintertime is a long time up here. It gets thirty below, you’re stuck in a cabin or your house or whatever for long stretches at a time and it’s just one of those things you learn how to keep yourself entertained and keep yourself happy and that’s one of those things that I’ve learned up here and just to take it easy.”

“Do you think you have a special way to connect with people or with the world?”

“Just listening; if you listen to what people have to say and also don’t be afraid to call people out on their bullshit. You know, a lot of people put on a face for people and it’s really just a waste of time because eventually everybody’s true colors come out and people aren’t that hard to get along with, they’re mostly all the same. We all don’t know what’s going on. That’s pretty much the trick.”

If you talk to Zeb for ten minutes you’ll start to look at the world in a different way.

“Don’t make it weird. A lot of people get upset over just the smallest things and that’s because they’re letting themselves. Just don’t make it weird. Be easy.”

He’s just a guy playing music up in Ely, but maybe for Zeb that’s the biggest success that can be.

“I don’t feel like having a drink after work. I feel like sitting and relaxing and watching the lake, listening to the loons.”

Why are legends always about someone who did something spectacular, or newsworthy? I think the best stories are about real, every day people.

Those are the stories that teach us something about the world, about ourselves.

Is Zeb a legend? Does he have a special aura?

Maybe if you ask other people, but if you ask me, He’s just my friend Zeb.