The Journey

Over the past couple of weeks it seems that the idea that the journey is more important that the destination has arisen. It first popped up when I received an email from my uncle. This was not his normal email, the ones with the pictures of tits and ass or a great Little Johnny joke, this told a story and asked a profound question. What is more important, the journey or the destination?

Yes, I know that this topic has been addressed before countless times and by minds greater than mine. It has been the subject of unforgettable poems by Robert Frost and catchy tunes by Tom Cochrane. Yet I do feel the need to address this on my own.

For me, the journey is what has value, and not what is at the end of that trip. I recently met an older gentleman and had the chance to sit and talk with him for a spell. This man and spoke of culture differences and an array of other topics until our conversation eventually led to this very topic. He asserted that a person who used poison gas to gain power in order to do great good for the world was justified, I had to disagree. I do not believe Machiavelli to be right in saying the end justifies the means. Does an engagement ring mean as much to the women you love if you steal her a three carat diamond or spend you last fifty dollars at the pawn shop on a piece of glass just so have something to give her that symbolizes your love?

The journey is what we make it, in the end when we look back and see how we got to where we are now was the end worth what we had to do get here. Or was the reward not really as great as it once seemed. I have driven across the entire U.S., from Seattle Washington to Buffalo New York to see family and friends, and it was a wasted trip, I spent the whole time in Buffalo dreading the drive back. Then I have taken the same trip and stopped along the way to see the sights, meet people and this had made the whole thing much more worth it.

Those two drives have proven to be a metaphor for my life, if I take my time and enjoy the moment then it seems that everything works out, those times that I push my way to the end, everything seems to fall apart.

Let me leave you with this, stop by a friends just to say hi, get her number, pull off and see the world biggest ball of rubber bands and take the moment for what it is and let the journey be worth it.