The Station
Tucked
away in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long, long trip that
almost spans the continent. We're
traveling by passenger train, and out the windows we drink in the passing scene
of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing
on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of
corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hills, of
biting winter and blazing summer and cavorting spring and docile fall.
But
uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour we will
pull into the station. There sill be
bands playing, and flags waving. And
once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true. So many wishes will be fulfilled and so many
pieces of our lives finally will be neatly fitted together like a completed
jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace
the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering ... waiting, waiting, waiting,
for the station.
However,
sooner or later we must realize there is no one station, no one place to arrive
at once and for all. The true joy of
life is the trip. The station is only a
dream. It constantly outdistances us.
"When
we reach the station, that will be it !" we cry. Translated it means,
"When I'm 18, that will be it! When
I buy a new 450 SL Mercedes Benz, that will be it! When I put the last kid through college, that
will be it! When I have paid off the
mortgage, that will be it! When I win a
promotion, that will be it! When I reach
the age of retirement, that will be it!
I shall live happily ever after!"
Unfortunately,
once we get it, then it disappears. The
station somehow hides itself at the end of an endless track.
Relish the
moment. It isn't the burdens of today that drive men
mad. Rather, it is regret over yesterday or fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who would
rob us of today.
So,
stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles.
Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot oftener,
swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough.
Robert J. Hastings
