There once was a young man who sat starring at the long road laid out before him. He starred at the road from behind the counter of the last gas station on the edge of a small town. The small town where he had been born, where he had his first kiss from a beautiful girl who begged him to adventure with her as she left on a train. He enjoyed his life well enough. He had all he needed in his steady job. He had even saved enough to buy a car, which could take him from his small town to the nearby city. He had a TV and had seen movies. He was educated through high school and community college.
He had a look of contentment on his average face. Indeed, he was the type of man who while you tarried in his story you would like and, in fact, may even enjoy a pleasant conversation filled with pleasantries. Yet, should you be asked miles down the road about this particular young man you would not be able to remember his features, his contented look or his neatly cropped hair. You would not remember his ethnicity, for he could pass for a few. He was a man who tended the road. A road the man knew about, yet did not know.
Years would pass, money would be saved and the man would grow older. The gas station was his and he would sit watching the road fill with ever newer cars and ever different people. He sat. The road changed. His look would change from that of a contented man to that of an old passerby. He had few stories and they were mostly of things he had been told by travelers who visited his station.
As this old man sat he noticed a similar old man filling a beat up old car, dented and with stickers. The man entered the station, cherry and full of life. He struck up a conversation, while staring at a road map. The man asked why he never drove down the road. The owner gave a thousand reasons why. All were valid reasons to stay. After all, he figured he might as well work at a gas station before the gas ran out, and then business was good so he couldn't leave because he was making money. Then he got older and thought the world would end soon anyways, for there were wars and rumors of wars, just had there had always been so he thought there was no point in traveling ("Might as well be comfortable while I can." he would say) and stayed. He always reasoned that another year or two and things would change; gas would run out, the economy would tank, the world would end, and he wouldn't have missed anything anyway. So he stayed, adding a little extra to his security, accumulating a little more of what he did not need. Life happened to him, but he didn't make life happen.
My Thoughts:
Life happens to us, but few of us make life happen. We find a thousands reasons to worry and a thousand reasons to embrace our current circumstance. All of our reasons seem valid. We worry. We worry about things outside of our control. We worry about the economy, we worry about tomorrow, we worry about today. In essence I think many of us sacrifice the greatness of a single moment for the fear of an inconsequential and nonexistent future moment. We exchange what is happening now for fear of what is not yet determined to happen.
It seems to me that many of us have got caught up in the idea of having more and living less. We seem to spend more time watching TV and less time with others, more time worrying about the economy and how much money we have, in effect leaving us less time to play a cheap board game with family and friends. We seem to be so worried about our values and freedoms being taken away that we almost forget to actually practice those freedoms.
My opinion is that many of us have become the old man at a young age. We have sacrificed the freedom to travel and experience life for the paycheck that accumulates more stuff. We have bought into the concept that the more you own, the nicer car you drive, your status is better than your experience.
Now I do not want to come across as an advocate to say that you do not need to plan ahead or treat your valuable resources of time and money with frivolity. No, you need to treat your finite resources with wisdom. But we tend to live so far outside the means of our resources that we trap ourselves into things we think we need, instead of things we actually need. The reality is that we do not need a ton of money to experience life and build relationships, we do not need a nice car to garner respect or a boat to appreciate the ocean, or a movie to appreciate a story.
Maybe if we took a moment to appreciate the current moment we wouldn't be so worried about tomorrow because we had today. Maybe if we take a second to be thankful for modern medicine, health, friends, family, the air we breath we would realize we have a lot more than we thought. Maybe if we take a second to give of ourselves to the neighboring shelter, to say a kind word to a friend going through a hard time, to give a cup of coffee, or send out a job opening we just heard about we would show others that all is not hopeless and that people do actually care. Maybe in the midst of struggles, when we are living in the moment with wisdom and creativity we in turn create a better future. Maybe means its uncertain, but it's clear to me that the alternative of fear and worry isn't really working. Maybe we won't become the old man spending our lives holding off traveling down the road.
He had a look of contentment on his average face. Indeed, he was the type of man who while you tarried in his story you would like and, in fact, may even enjoy a pleasant conversation filled with pleasantries. Yet, should you be asked miles down the road about this particular young man you would not be able to remember his features, his contented look or his neatly cropped hair. You would not remember his ethnicity, for he could pass for a few. He was a man who tended the road. A road the man knew about, yet did not know.
Years would pass, money would be saved and the man would grow older. The gas station was his and he would sit watching the road fill with ever newer cars and ever different people. He sat. The road changed. His look would change from that of a contented man to that of an old passerby. He had few stories and they were mostly of things he had been told by travelers who visited his station.
As this old man sat he noticed a similar old man filling a beat up old car, dented and with stickers. The man entered the station, cherry and full of life. He struck up a conversation, while staring at a road map. The man asked why he never drove down the road. The owner gave a thousand reasons why. All were valid reasons to stay. After all, he figured he might as well work at a gas station before the gas ran out, and then business was good so he couldn't leave because he was making money. Then he got older and thought the world would end soon anyways, for there were wars and rumors of wars, just had there had always been so he thought there was no point in traveling ("Might as well be comfortable while I can." he would say) and stayed. He always reasoned that another year or two and things would change; gas would run out, the economy would tank, the world would end, and he wouldn't have missed anything anyway. So he stayed, adding a little extra to his security, accumulating a little more of what he did not need. Life happened to him, but he didn't make life happen.
My Thoughts:
Life happens to us, but few of us make life happen. We find a thousands reasons to worry and a thousand reasons to embrace our current circumstance. All of our reasons seem valid. We worry. We worry about things outside of our control. We worry about the economy, we worry about tomorrow, we worry about today. In essence I think many of us sacrifice the greatness of a single moment for the fear of an inconsequential and nonexistent future moment. We exchange what is happening now for fear of what is not yet determined to happen.
It seems to me that many of us have got caught up in the idea of having more and living less. We seem to spend more time watching TV and less time with others, more time worrying about the economy and how much money we have, in effect leaving us less time to play a cheap board game with family and friends. We seem to be so worried about our values and freedoms being taken away that we almost forget to actually practice those freedoms.
My opinion is that many of us have become the old man at a young age. We have sacrificed the freedom to travel and experience life for the paycheck that accumulates more stuff. We have bought into the concept that the more you own, the nicer car you drive, your status is better than your experience.
Now I do not want to come across as an advocate to say that you do not need to plan ahead or treat your valuable resources of time and money with frivolity. No, you need to treat your finite resources with wisdom. But we tend to live so far outside the means of our resources that we trap ourselves into things we think we need, instead of things we actually need. The reality is that we do not need a ton of money to experience life and build relationships, we do not need a nice car to garner respect or a boat to appreciate the ocean, or a movie to appreciate a story.
Maybe if we took a moment to appreciate the current moment we wouldn't be so worried about tomorrow because we had today. Maybe if we take a second to be thankful for modern medicine, health, friends, family, the air we breath we would realize we have a lot more than we thought. Maybe if we take a second to give of ourselves to the neighboring shelter, to say a kind word to a friend going through a hard time, to give a cup of coffee, or send out a job opening we just heard about we would show others that all is not hopeless and that people do actually care. Maybe in the midst of struggles, when we are living in the moment with wisdom and creativity we in turn create a better future. Maybe means its uncertain, but it's clear to me that the alternative of fear and worry isn't really working. Maybe we won't become the old man spending our lives holding off traveling down the road.
I second that! I know lots of people who let fear hold them back from living life, or think they need "more" before they can peruse their dreams, go on that vacation, take up that hobby, spend more time with family.... we may not have much, but we've chosen to make due with less so that we are free to live today to the fullest. I don't want there to be an infinite list of "I wish I had," and "what ifs" when I look back on my life. :)
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