Journeys

There are moments in any journey when you pause and wonder if the road you have taken is the right one. There are moments when you know that you have walked along the road best avoided. There are moments when the road you eventually choose, though right, is so challenging that to continue along it takes more will power than you ever believed you possessed. There are also moments when you hit the crossroads of right and wrong; of happiness and sacrifice; of a secret joy over duty and you pause again wondering which way to go. Are we only responsible for our own happiness or are we responsible for the happiness of everyone who has ever loved us in whatever fashion, be they our parents, children or spouse?

The questions will always plague anyone who has had the courage to venture out and tackle the world head-on. Those with their heads in the sand do not go very far in any case. They build their cocoons and can easily fool themselves by ascribing greatness and glory to their every act. They don’t have questions to face – they only have lies to fabricate; lies that become more intricate with every utterance and which bind them tighter in a web of deceit so complicated that the clear light of truth is almost completely lost.

I like the questions. They make me feel alive. They poke me and goad me to think of solutions that would have otherwise eluded me. Why would I want the humdrum of an everyday existence? Why would I want the routine of a 9 to 5 if my heart was not in it? Always I have picked passion over money and have ended up far poorer in some ways and incredibly richer in others. Sometimes the things that make your life meaningful is the sight of that smile of gratitude on someone who has been offered a small ray of hope or that spark of comprehension in a lost child. I live for moments that make me feel rejuvenated. On the days I try to not worry about how to save for an uncertain future, I think of these bright moments and I am comforted.

Perhaps my one great regret is the knowledge that I too have once traversed a path that on hindsight gave me only grief. What appears attractive and wreathed with sunshine often turns to be swampy and mired in treachery. It is only experience that teaches us that the harder paths are the ones that we should stay on regardless of the degree of our fear or the weakness of our persistence. I have seen many a friend choose the paths that I could see would never work for them. I have had a few friends warn me when they thought I was veering off my true course as well but there is one basic truth – our journeys are solo affairs – only each one of us can determine the route we take and if we love someone , it behoves us to stand back and watch them on their path with a prayer on our lips and good wishes in our heart but never with words of discouragement. We all are born alone, we die alone and the journey in the middle even if shared with someone for some time, is essentially undertaken alone.

So have your moments and pause, but continue onward soon or you will lose your courage and stay in one place forever. Move ahead and see the destiny that is yours alone. Don’t stand by the wayside watching as others walk but go along your path and stumble if need be. Journey on, my friends – the world awaits and there can never be a path so wrong that you would not find your way back home….