The two wise men of backwoods county, USA

    

    There, there's that same huge oak tree, again. Driving down unfamiliar back roads searching for an unfamiliar destination, I am lost. Twenty minutes later I spy a small patch of civilization in the shape of a twentieth-century general store.  I park next to the old weathered wood sided building. I feel the weathered faces staring down upon me as I search for the scrap of paper with the address I am headed to. The two old men sitting in older wooden chairs don't smile, don't speak just stare. I put on a smile and say "Morning" No reply, just a nod and more intense staring. I explain that I am lost and ask for a little local help. The gentleman on my left, wipes his brow with his red and white printed bandana and speaks. "You can't get there from here" the gentleman on my right, dressed in faded denim overalls nods in agreement. As I try to make sense of his reply, I notice one of them is shaking their head up and down and the other is shaking his left to right. "Excuse me" The elderly farmer restates his answer. " I said, you can't get there from here. You gots to start from somewheres else." His companion still nodding his head up and down in agreement. I am lost for words but before I can ask for clarification they both crack up laughing.

Funny but true story.

Years later, those words echoed in my mind as I pondered my life's meaning and where I had been and where I was headed. "You can't get there from here" I spoke out loud. No, I just can't get to where I want to be from where I am. I spent forty years trying to be what everyone wanted me to be.

All I ever wanted to be was happy.

Sometimes you just have to start from somewhere else to get where you want to be.

Some thoughts never leave

Some days I am free, without the thought that haunts my soul. Other days and nights I just listen. Quietly, listen to the haunting words . . . .

"I hope that I, before growing past my knowing years

Can cure this blindness of my soul

Can close mine eyes and begin to see

The dawning of the man

The man my conscious, my soul and 

my God would have me be"

The drought has ended

It has been a long time since I had a thought worth sharing. Maybe you too have droughts of inspiration, just maybe. Not today.

    Looking back, I see a soul who resembles the face in my mirror. A younger more vivacious me, wild child. Long haired, gonna change the world boy who lives, now in the confines of my heart. That silly fool was going to change everybody's mind    but . . . he , instead, changed his. I see him trying to be like his father. A soldier, a restaurant owner and a Dad. Through the mist of blurred memories I see him trying to be like his spouse, farmer, fence mender, husband and a Dad. I say out loud to no one, should have stopped at Dad. All that time trying to be some one for somebody. I wonder what ever became of that long haired boy with the big ideas and dreams of changing the world. I thought that maybe if he had only pursued his dreams of changing the world, maybe just maybe the world would have been a better place. At least for him. I found myself shaking my head in agreement with myself and began to laugh. Yes, his world would have been a different place, not better just different. 

    But that was just a moment in reflection, a small space in time. Here in the real world, that long haired boy got a haircut. He got a job, several different ones and he became a Dad. Maybe , just maybe that was his purpose in this world. Maybe, just maybe the children of that long I mean short haired boy will change the world. Heaven knows it sure changed his.

    Never believe what you see, nor listen to those who say you can't change the world.

Maybe, just maybe you already have.