​Blog 650 – 06.01.2017

Seldom A Straight Line

Have you ever noticed how seldom if ever one sees a straight line in nature? But how often we try to think in terms of straight lines, usually boxes into which we try to force things, others, and ourselves to fit. Trying to get from point A to point B, mathematically a straight line is the shortest distance, but how seldom we actually pull that off in life. Life is full of detours and side streets that beckon “See what’s here.” And so very often the true adventures of life are found in the detours, the bends in the road, the unexpected or unplanned side routes.

I believe that is why the Great Designer seems to prefer curves to straight lines. He/She purposely takes us on the long way home to get us to smell the roses along the way, to stop and see the sights. The other morning I was on my way to meet up with the crew I inspect for and they had changed plans and were starting out the day in a different location. Before I made a good phone connection with the crew foreman I had driven several miles in the opposite direction from where I needed to be headed. But along that road I saw a wild turkey spreading his glorious plumage to attract his lady turkey’s attention, a beautiful sight to behold that I would not have seen had I taken the shortest, quickest way to work.

Some time ago I changed my thinking about “wrong turns” and wandering routes. As a younger man I was always in a hurry and over conscious of getting there or doing things as fast and directly as possible. I have come to believe that when we are in a hurry we mess up more things and a lot faster, we miss so many things we were meant to see and experience, and we stress ourselves so much that we cannot even relax and enjoy the destination. Often the journey should be and is really the most important part of the trip not the destination. I supposed it is a “guy thing” this compulsion to get an early start, get there as quick as possible, with the minimum stops along the way, taking the most direct route. Thank the Universe for wives, mothers, sisters, and children who work very hard to teach us otherwise. Oh, we fight it, we are brought to this true appreciation of detours, curves, unplanned delays and side trips kicking and screaming but hopefully many of us men do eventually learn better.

Even a once confirmed straight shooter/get there quick guy like myself has learned to stop and smell the roses and, yes, to even take a picture or two to remember the moments, humming a strangely familiar song.

“Minutes turn to hours, days to years then gone. When all else has been forgotten, still our song lives on. How does a moment last forever? When our song lives on.”

Enjoy the music, enjoy the ride, the more winding the road, the more stops we make, and the more photos we take, the longer and sweeter the journey will be. Bon Voyage, travelers.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White