Some paths promise a lot but go on endlessly the same, dangling the carrot. In fact, many paths seem to do that these days. There always seems to be this shiny coin or gem just around the bend, if you'll just go a little farther. These are the kinds of paths that lead nowhere. Once you're on them, they're hard to get off. They just wind and wind until one day they come to an end, for you anyway. Then the conductor yells, "All aboard!" as if you had been on a train, and many people get on the path and mindlessly chug along just like you used to at one time. But you can't seem to get back on, and now you've been unceremoniously dumped in the middle of nowhere. Welcome to the jungle. You're probably much older now. Where did the time go?
There are those, just a few, who blaze their own trails. They are not tempted to take paths made by others. They are not lulled into a false sense of security by a wide, easygoing path filled with the false comfort of many travelers. They are not fooled at all. They begin in the jungle and, with their eyes open, they learn its ways. They make their own decisions and then they set out. There are no directions to follow and no shiny coins or gems just around the bend, but slowly, ever so slowly, they forge a path. It's a difficult life but they grow to love it because it's their life and their path, and they can take it in any direction they want. Eventually, they will reach their destination. They will congratulate themselves on a job well done and breathe a sigh of relief. Until they get back on the path, that is, because the lucky few realize that it is the personal journey that matters and not the destination.
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| A small footpath in the jungle. |
