The Path I Am On

When I consider the past, this is what I’ve found. I have seen many places because I get around. There are wonders little known, that I can only best describe as Road Runner brown rock under a perfectly pristine sky. As I drove among these boulders down a steep narrow road, a glimmer of blue appeared below, yet I never slowed. The glimmer grew into a sparkly blue stream so breath-taking and crisp, I thought it was a dream. The dream slowly turned to dread as the vision drew near. As I approached the water more closely, the road disappeared. I kept my pace descending steeply toward the vision, thinking that certainly there would be a collision. Heart in my throat, I continued to descend; then I was relieved that the road did not end. A bridge carried me over the most beautiful, blue flow toward the round, brown rock ahead and below. I have seen winter wonderlands, laced with dark, contrasting shapes. Of buildings poking out of the silvery snow and ice, as well as the trees on which the snow drapes. I have seen the magnificently inviting sea with its pockets of green and blue. So I jumped in to enjoy the tropics as the tourists and natives do. I have seen beautiful places and done amazing things. But people are more important than the things that I have seen.

I have met many individuals that I may have called friends. I am truly thankful for the experience that each one did lend. The friends of my youth were just as lost as I. Things could have been so much worse now that I see what lay behind. High school people were amazing and helped me so much, to the extent that there are still a few who regularly keep in touch. Those years were dark and muted. I hardly knew myself. Looking back, I now can see how that time added much to my current wealth. College years have come and gone with its friendships that seemed so deep. For in those years, what I learned most are the types of friends to keep. I learned in those years that I had not learned, who I wanted to be. I started to accept who I was, and that’s when I began to see. I started to see the color of people, but not the shade of their skin. I started to see the bright personalities, those that shine from without or within. I also began to see the dim, whose hearts are hopeless and dull. They suck out the life and take out the fun, drawing me into a sleepy lull.

In all the places with all the people, there are many things I learned. Some of those experiences of person and place, if I saw again, I would spurn. All of the places and people I’ve known have their role in shaping me. I know what is and was, and I understand what can be. I know myself, because of these, better than I did before. Now I live a better, brighter life, and I enjoy it so much more. I continue to influence people and they influence me. As people come and go, they leave a mark that I can see. Each person adds a layer of color, painting me a different hue. Places tend to do the same, giving me a new view. Each brightens my perspective adding color to my palette. I learn to bend and stretch my mind to determine what I find valid. Among the black and white in the world, there are many shades of gray. My perspective may shift right or left, but I am here to say.