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2010-10-06 15:44:58 ET Life is not about the destination but about the journey. About how you reach out towards some unclear goal and then, after a while, you start smelling something burning and, with the corner of your eye, you realize that the parking brake IS STILL ENGAGED! You disengage it and more confidently push the gas pedal...only to hit bumper to bumper traffic because the highway has closed down to an overturned trailer...that was carrying a house. Now the house is laying on the side of the road, fully intact except for a broken window here and there and you, after waiting for about 2 hours with no sign of movement, get out of your car and walk over to the house. Some of the other drivers have moved in, temporarily you hope, and they wave you to drop by and join them. You look around but all you see and hear are lights and horns of the still non-moving traffic. What the hell, you decide and walk on over to the side of the house and climb in through, as carefully as possible, through a broken window. It's strange walking on what used to be a wall of a house but what is now a temporary floor. You make your way to the door, climb over half the wall and clumsily fall down to the other side. You pick yourself up and dust yourself off. Some of the other drivers are here. They are playing poker. They wave you into the game and you check how much cash you have. This is Texas Hold 'em you see. And now you're the big blind. You play a few rounds and then.. And then the house turns over and all of you card players go tumbling down towards the floor. The real floor. The house sways. It's being picked up by a giant crane. The traffic jam must be clearing! You rush down the stairs to the first floor and throw open the front door only to find yourself 10 feet above the ground, legs shaking afraid to jump. But the workmen below aren't afraid of encouraging you to go for it. To make their lives a little easier. To make everyone's life a little easier. So you jump And you fall And you tuck And you roll To break the fall. And you stand up and you dust yourself off. And you walk back to your car. And you wait until the traffic jam clears almost fully. And you hit the gas And you turn on the radio. And you drive towards that vague goal in the distance, bopping your head to the tunes playing. Because that's life. Sometimes it's just a card game in a house that has fallen down by the side of the road and you wait for it to be picked up before you make a jump for it. And when you land you're all you. Fully aware. In your element. The element of your being. And your car, a pale green hatchback model. With the windows closed. To hide the smell of dead stinkbugs on the windshield. Go, man, go! |
