I was conversing with my very oldest & dearest friend the other night. (We went to Mrs. Jones' Kindergarten together in 1958.) For some reason (and I forget what it was), I mentioned the three phases a growing boy goes through with his backpacking. The first phase of camping is when you read the list that's in the Scout manual of stuff to put in your pack, and you take all of that stuff. The second phase comes when you get tired of lugging all that stuff around, so you pare down the load and take only take what you really, really need. In the second phase, you have a really tight and light pack. The third phase comes when you are a little older and a lot stronger. At that point in your life, you like some creature comforts, so you take what will make you comfortable, even though that makes for a heavier pack. A good air mattress, for instance, is pretty heavy.
She distilled what I was describing into what may be a formula for adulthood. "So in the first phase you follow the rules, in the second phase you defy the rules, and in the third phase you think for yourself."
Damn, and I thought I had the turn of phrase to describe this whole life thing.
Mizpah.
R
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5 comments:
wouldn't it be much easier if we could just think for ourselves from the beginning?
Wow, that would be soooooo much better, dearest Spidey. I'm afraid that I always have to take the long way around and learn the hard way.
R
Me too. I did haul all of that junk on the list for the first few trips, and then learned what to leave behind.
Sometimes in life though we are still carrying all that junk with us........
I used to get quite riled when I was a spotty teenager, thinking I knew everything, and oldies would say "Ah, youth is wasted on the young"
And now I keep hearing it in my own head.
Brother Pete, you too have power in an economy of words.
This reminds me of a long quotation by Dan Beard that I think is living on the server at work. I'll try to find it tomorrow, and if I can, I'll share.
R
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