STRUNG ALONG
Tuesday Dec. 10, 2013
Path, pathway, path of travel – we all understand, don’t we?
Might be foot-worn, through trees, over lava descending to that splendid little beach.
Might be out to the rear lane, for trash hauling, or beneath that clothesline used for hanging sheets, jeans and towels.
Path, birth to now, from now to the end – we are always on one, always moving from moment to moment, stage and phase to another stage, another phase. Whatever comes next.
Uphill.
Most battles are.
Uphill.
Most goals are over some hill, beyond today’s horizon. I go after mine because I know they are there. Next deal, next task, next connection, next relationship, next client – they are all over there, not clustered, but strung along my path.
Failures, on the other hand, are strewn beside the path behind us. Looking back, there is no straight line or progression even though we often thought there was.
Lets face it, of all calls we make or take every day, one will be huge. Monumental. No idea what heights, lengths and orders of magnitude will arise from that one call.
That one meeting.
That one e-mail.
That one task.
It looks like all those others, at first.
Am I arguing they all have that potential?
Maybe I am.
More than one, certainly, but not all. Not every.
Some days, none.
It isn’t about destination. Or expectations, but about walking our path, straight or crooked, sometimes spiraling down, out of sight, sometimes a climb over mountain ranges, obstacles of resistance, forces and foes. With trolls lurking under every bridge.
Sometimes, we’ve got a friend along – or one waiting, just call away.
Sometimes.
Mark Kolke
200,656
column written/ published from Calgary
morning walk: -13C (wind chill -22C) / 8F, light snow falling again/still, heavy traffic crawling down 40th Avenue in what looks more like brown sugar than snow while the cemetery is looking like a photographer’s paradise awaiting the markings of rabbit and cross-country ski tracks. Gusta pulling hard like a dog team in search of a sled . . .
Comments Received:
It is so much easier physically to look forward than to look behind. So much more positive for us as well. Behind is filled with woulda, coulda, shouldas which have a tendency to mire us in the muck of it all like a muddy road we find ourselves trudging down. I think that is why we were created with our eyes in the front of our heads and not the backs. GW, Brady, Tx.
Hi Mark: I applaud your resolve to not dance with the devil. The cost is too high. I know because my life has been forever affected by alcohol. And I don't drink. Cheers!, SG, Calgary, AB
