Delight Springs

Monday, June 1, 2020

Right of way

An ugly weekend of violent protests, charges and counter-charges of extremist instigation, curfews, this scary headline -- "Protests Could Set Off a Second Coronavirus Wave, Experts Warn"...

But amidst it all, this weekend, there was an inspiring magic-carpet rocket ride, the most gorgeous weather imaginable here, my wife and I celebrated our anniversary at an actual sit-down restaurant, Younger Daughter turns 21 today, and I've just discovered two new books about the physiological and emotional upside of the peripatetic life -- In Praise of Walking and In Praise of Paths. "What interests me, however, is less physiological, more elusive: walking as a way of life." (David Ulin)

Always look on the bright side.

Ulin wrote a fine book himself, on walking in Los Angeles -- Sidewalking -- which I need to send to Older Daughter.

Ulin's review concludes with a line we'd do well to remember, as the "news"-worthy world continues to spiral frighteningly out of kilter: "Each stage of the journey has value on its own terms — which means it is the journeying rather than the arriving that offers the most necessary right of way."

The way John McDermott said that was: the nectar is in the journey.

The way I say it is: walk on. If you happen to be a young person who just attained the age of legal adulthood, walk in confidence of your ability to change a troubled world. You have the right of way. You are go for launch!


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