Rambling paths

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

And sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler.

Long I stood and looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear, but as for that

The passing there had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay

in leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day, but knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted that I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

somewhere ages and ages hence.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.

I was with some friends over the last few days. The husband was from New York. He teaches in Odessa, Texas. His story takes him from the city to upstate New York to Florida to Texas on two different occasions. He hasn't always been a teacher. He's only done that for 13 years. He used to run a water park, an RV park, a hotel, and many more jobs. His wife grew up in New Jersey. Her story to get to Texas is equally as fascinating. She's from Italian stock, so has a colorful upbringing. They're moving to Austin in the fall.

My own story covers just as much ground. I have lived in Denton, Texas; Grand Prairie, Texas; Riverton, Wyoming; Olympia, Washington; Abilene, Texas; DeSoto, Texas; Arlington, Texas; Dallas, Texas; and Midland, Texas. The upbringing and jobs are just as colorful as my friends.

Whenever I talk of trusting the Maker with the big picture, I'm talking about just what Robert Frost's poem is about—way leading to way. How my friends and I ever met is just an example of how He juggles everyone's paths, not just the paths of the three of us. How can paths intersect at just the right moments or just the wrong moments? But, I'm not in the control tower of watching people's lives. I can't even see the flight path of the one I'm on except in retrospect. And, I'm not sure that looking back is with 20/20 vision anymore. We forget too many details.

So, I'm with Frost. "Way leads on to way, I doubt that I should ever come back." So, here's to the future path. I'm along for the ride. It's really navigated by the Maker.

We're more transparent than we think

Often I watch the Science channel and learn a great deal about the geology of the Earth. I find it fascinating to watch what the world looked like at different stages in its history. Frequently the channel will show that times of the Earth are based on the fossil record within the rocks of an area. It was just such a show that I found out that there was another ocean that predated the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maine. The Atlantic is the second ocean to have touched Maine's shores. In fact, the first ocean predated the established timeline for the rocks along much of the coast of Maine, so the geologist proposing the second ocean idea had a great deal to prove. But, he did, and he did it with the fossil record.

Human language operates much like the geologic record. One can tell, for instance where in the world a person is from by his language. If the language is the same, then one tells by the dialect spoken. And, if the area is the same, then one can tell by other tonal features such as presence of drawl or by position of a vowel sound in the mouth. All of that is to say people have traces in their speech to identify them.

Even in the way people use language to interact with each other, traces of meaning are found everywhere in the language environment. It is not a mystery to know what others have meant with a statement made. Many statements are straightforward so that meaning is apparent automatically. But, many more times people use context of environment to show their meanings. For example, the word "forms" during the early spring months so many times is used to mean IRS forms since it is due April 15th. But, "forms" in early January and in late August spoken by a young adult probably means college forms. Of course, forms doesn't have to mean paper at all there are forms (shapes) in geometry and forms (shadows) in the dark. There are forms (molds) that plastic bottles come from and there are forms (condition) that people strive to be the best for. What is meant depends wholly on context. Many, many words are like "form," but contraintuitively, confusion does not result but traces are left that give meaning - time of year traces, age of speaker traces, level of education traces, native knowledge of language traces, and geographic location traces. Traces allow one to know meaning even if not present, but especially if present.

That's whay the filler expression, "You know what I mean," used on a recurring basis is so annoying to me. The answer is yes. Why would you speak to me in a way that you have to explain yourself further. That goes against conversational principles. But, mainly, listening for the cues or traces enables most native speakers of a language to know what is being meant. It's rare that a person could hide so much in an utterance that the other parties engaged with him or her would say, "I don't know what you mean."

Buried under layers of time

The Texas Education Agency has really destroyed education in the traditional sense of learning from a teacher what that teacher has to offer. It has instead focused on a very narrow set of learnings through a test that it makes every student in the state take. The target of every classroom in the state, then, teaches the material that will appear on the test rather than a wider scope of material that makes a student a well-rounded citizen in our country. What a travesty!

I was sitting in a church service the other day contemplating Easter and the Passover and the timing of Easter this year during the communion part of the service. I was thinking of what the Passover meal must have been like for Jews who celebrated it for hundreds of years. I thought of the Last Supper as a Passover Meal and the trappings and preparations it took to have that meal. I thought of the first century church's descriptions of the Feast of Love, or the new Passover meal, and what must have taken place in those ancient settings.

Then I fast-forwarded to the present. I saw grape juice and unleavened crackers being passed from one person to another in total silence without interaction, just pensive meditation on some people's parts. There were no meal trappings or meal preparations, no "feast" at all much less one of "love." I had a flash of a thought that the new Passover meal had become a state exam which was very targeted in what it wanted to elicit from people. Nothing more, nothing less.

I know that one can look back through the ages and draw the conclusion that precious little ever survives in its original form for very long. Ceremonies in particular last a decade or two before they are changed in our modern age. If one goes back tracking some ceremony or another, one can see the changes. The tendency is to not only change a ceremony, but to abbreviate what does survivie from the past.

In one way I understand what happened to the new Passover meal. It changed and became abbreviated. But, in another way, I wish that some of the remnants that dropped, the meal part for instance, had survived. It's not a travesty like what the state is doing to its students. It's just sad to me that the ravages of the passage of time have reduced something of meaning to a ceremony with few vestiges of the original setting.

A bit on the melancholic side. But, happy Easter ahead of time!

Not "what" but "how"

What happened to those ambitions conjured up during the college years of a grandiose, idyllic life? Well, they were merely desires that could have taken root had there not been the competition of 500,000 people vying for the same jobs. I was just too naive to understand or too idealistic in faith to know that it would take many cracked backs to stand on in order to climb to the top.

What happened to the "blissful" years of marriage? Well, that's just a case of too much Hollywood and myopia of youth to look long term or heed the advice of people who have been down the road—a lot like telling a 12-year old why something works the way it does.

What happened to the step-by-step outline one makes in his head, on paper, or both, to get to the lifestyle that sets one above the plane of worry? Well, one finds that it all depends on what he's willing to sacrifice or compromise on or let go altogether or doggedly fight for. And those matters are all what is in one's world view or religious faith or both.

What happened? Life. No one's prepared, some more than others, but no one fully. And arriving at a full understanding of life never happens either. So, it's tempting to be like the Old Testament character of Job, questioning, demanding an answer from a deity. But it's better to take the Great Teacher's advice:

25 This is why I tell you: do not be worried about the food and drink you need in order to stay alive, or about clothes for your body. After all, isn't life worth more than food? And isn't the body worth more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds?

27 Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it? 28 And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves. 29 But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers. 30 It is God who clothes the wild grass---grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't he be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have!

31 So do not start worrying: Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes? 32 (These are the things the pagans are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. 33 Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things. 34 So do not worry about tomorrow; it will have enough worries of its own. There is no need to add to the troubles each day brings.

Matthew 6.25-34

So, it seems that a day-at-a-tme attitude is a better way of looking at life than to muse over the track of the past. It would be better to change the question from "What happened?" to "How can I show forgiveness, compassion, friendship, honesty, integrity, and deep love?" (Kingdom of God matters). It's the best advice.