That Other Something About the Journey
I have travelled many roads in my life. Some journies I took to follow a dream or to realize an ambition. Some journies I took simply to find out what I would find just around the bend of the road. There were also the journies I took to escape the seemingly overwhelming realities of my life at that specific moment.When one journey ended, another began. I find myself at 61 setting out on yet another stage of my wanderings, less afraid now of what might happen next. Anymore, I do have a fair idea of what can happen along the way and I am a more seasoned traveller now, better able to deal whatever comes my way.
I have discovered a curious reality about the different stages of my meandering travels. Usually I went in a particular direction to accomplish a specific goal. It turns out that the most significant thing that happened to me, each step along the way, was that I was destined to cross paths with certain people, who would become an important part of my life... people who would prove to have a profound impact on my life, for better or for worse. Much like the hero of the television series, JourneyMan, I set out on missions, never fully aware of what I was really going after or what I would encounter. I set out on journies never knowing who I would meet or why it was that I was meant to come to know them. That is the part of the mystery of the future that seems to me to be the most difficult to discern beforehand...and occasionally the most dangerous aspect. It is a critical skill to know how to size up the people we meet along the way.
The smallest common denomenator of our life is a day. Each day is a journey in itself and we will meet so many people in the course of even 24 hours. Which person is going to someone we need to know and to learn from? Which person should we avoid, at any cost? Which person is one for whom we will make a difference in his or her life? After awhile, only hard won experience enabled me to answer those questions with any level of competence. You see, no one ever told me about that other something that I had to be on the lookout for, in the course of my wanderings. I had to learn that for myself.
I have discovered a curious reality about the different stages of my meandering travels. Usually I went in a particular direction to accomplish a specific goal. It turns out that the most significant thing that happened to me, each step along the way, was that I was destined to cross paths with certain people, who would become an important part of my life... people who would prove to have a profound impact on my life, for better or for worse. Much like the hero of the television series, JourneyMan, I set out on missions, never fully aware of what I was really going after or what I would encounter. I set out on journies never knowing who I would meet or why it was that I was meant to come to know them. That is the part of the mystery of the future that seems to me to be the most difficult to discern beforehand...and occasionally the most dangerous aspect. It is a critical skill to know how to size up the people we meet along the way.
The smallest common denomenator of our life is a day. Each day is a journey in itself and we will meet so many people in the course of even 24 hours. Which person is going to someone we need to know and to learn from? Which person should we avoid, at any cost? Which person is one for whom we will make a difference in his or her life? After awhile, only hard won experience enabled me to answer those questions with any level of competence. You see, no one ever told me about that other something that I had to be on the lookout for, in the course of my wanderings. I had to learn that for myself.
posted by hfireman | 1:12 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home