Handprints in the Sand

A poem titled "Footprints in the sand" ends with the three words "I carried you." No one poet gets full credit for that famous poem so most of us who know the poem simply agree the byline goes to "Anonymous". As a longtime fan of the poem, it gave me hope and peace on harder days. Upon more current analysis of the poem, I wonder why "footprints" got into the title instead of "hands" if the poem's big bang ending is "I carried you." I suppose it was a group effort between feet and hands. I've always noticed my feet and hands. The shape, size, and the particular markings that may make them very different or unique. Hands seem to have more personality traits (or marks) than feet. Whether you are a gypsy mystic witch reading palms to guide a confused soul, or you're a police officer studying the fingerprints of criminals in data base files, you have seen that the hands of different humans have very distinct and unique markings. Like snowflakes, we all have hands but the designs are all unique. I learned how to read palms at a very early age and have kept my eyes on my personal "road map" for my entire life. Both of my palms show two major markings (Triangulum and the Letter M) which some mystics believe have significant meanings. However, my right hand and my left hand also have unique attributes and markings that show different routes as if looking at different maps. For example, I could say my right hand shows the map of my life in Florida, while the left hand shows the map of my spiritual life, not here on Earth.

I won't get into the unique markings on each of my hands. Instead, I will explain how my personality has been the map of my life. Various moments locked into my memories include questions or statements that were strongly linked to my personality. When someone asks "Do you believe in God?" I take it somewhat personally. When someone asks "Do you believe in Destiny?" I feel like I need to explain my hand maps and how they have literally changed in the course of 50 years. How do you explain to someone who believes in "Destiny" that they are not wrong, but that the map will change while you're on the journey?

I think it's just easier for me to explain the constants --- the pieces of the map that don't change which are the more prominent features of my personality and the more powerful persuasions towards my destiny. I have squarish worker hands which depicts a hard-working earnest type of personality. I have conic fingertips which suggests I am empathic and sensitive and able to comprehend vibrations that are not seen by the typical eye. The triangles and M's on both of my hands are also important. The three main lines (heart, head, and life) on my hands would inform a palm reader that I am a genius and an extreme romantic. My confusing life lines (which look very different from my right hand to my left hand) have a lot to do with many years of family issues and psychiatric treatment. Was that my "Destiny" ? Yes, but it's not over yet. There's more coming.

Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? I've asked myself these questions for the past 35 years with mostly the same answers; However, I will say that the past five years have changed my perspective and my answers. Will that change my destiny? Probably, but I do not proclaim to be Omnipotent.

The map of my life is simply like handprints in the sand. Did I carry you or did you carry me? Does it really matter one way or the other considering that the waves will wash away both our handprints and footprints eventually? No one will ever know that we walked and worked and laughed and cried on the very sand where they now do the same. Is that it? My destiny is just a few notes in the wind of a Linkin Park song "In the End, it doesn't even matter...." ---- I don't believe that. And according to my left hand, there is much more to life than a map, or a journey, or a success story, or a failure in some endeavor, or a romance, or a family, or a location, or a destination. According to my left hand, there is another world where everything I am doing here in this world is summed up and will affect my life there. Like a mirror. Ever wonder why people put their hands together when they wish to pray? I don't usually, unless I'm with formal spiritualists who like that method. I guess I just prefer keeping the left hand left, and the right hand right. I know that the footprints in the sand show both left foot and right foot. Did you know that I typed this article with both my left hand and right hand?