Bird Droppings June 19, 2025
At what age should we be seeking a destination

“Life is about the journey, not the destination; we don’t know what tomorrow brings,” Steven Tyler, AEROSMITH.

Occasionally, I get amazed, and not too many days ago, while driving from point A to point B, a song was playing in my son’s car, and it happened to be the song with that line on it. I meant to write down which song and forgot later; he told me it is from the song ‘Awesome’.

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating you.” George Bernard Shaw

We each get up in the morning and begin the day, usually very similar to the day previously, just as always in the wee hours. today, my house is quiet. One son is off making his life in Southern Pines, North Carolina, having graduated from Georgia Tech in chemical engineering. Another son graduated from Piedmont College with a master’s degree in science education and teaches and lives with his wife in the local community. My youngest son also graduated from Piedmont College and is a registered nurse who recently moved back in with us and works in an ICU for a major hospital. I get up early in the morning, taking pictures, chasing sunrises, and counting synchronistic events as I drive by. When I get home, I get on the computer, studying, researching, and writing, working on my chapter for a new Foxfire book.

I recall a few summers back when my youngest was at music camp for a week when my father passed away. My youngest son’s passion has been the blues harmonica back in the day, as he says his cousin and my oldest were jamming together, focusing on old southern rock and blues. Who knows, maybe they will turn some folks on to some old Robert Johnson songs instead of the pop music so many teenagers listen to nowadays. As I had so many memories as I thought this morning.

It has been a few years since I went by my mother’s house to drop off her groceries, as I did a few times a week. Sometimes it was to drop off digital photos for my mother’s hobby, she was creating greeting cards from photos and artwork. Her cards use an image on the front, and then she will write a poem or phrase to go inside. I went driving around months ago looking for a picture of a spider web for her, and in the process, took 60 other photos. One I had used as a screen saver for many weeks for my laptop of my oldest son’s saltwater tank. It has been nearly ten years since he has had a reef tank, basically a saltwater aquarium that simulates a coral reef, in miniature. The denizens are primarily colonial polyps and other invertebrates, which, from a few feet away, look like lumps of rock in a very brightly lit tank. However, when you get up close and the rocks have quarter-inch creatures with tentacles waving in the current, they are very much alive. One of the pictures I took was of a group of anemones that cluster together, each only a quarter inch wide, covering a piece of coral rock with what looks like hair till you look closely, and it is tiny tentacles catching microscopic creatures in the water. A tiny mantis shrimp that hatched in the tank was swimming about and got its or her picture taken, each of them less than a sixteenth of an inch long. What is amazing is how much beauty is contained in a space so small.

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” Albert Schweitzer

So many people are not content and struggle to look for what may be right in front of them. It is our outlook and perception that are crucial to truly seeing and hearing in this reality. Daily, I hear people complain about teaching because they do not like teaching or do not like working with children. I keep wanting to say, well, do something else then.

“How far is far, how high is high? We’ll never know until we try.” California Special Olympics song

“Somehow, I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four Cs. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably.” Walt Disney

It is the entire journey, it is walking along seeing all there is to see, not missing that minute detail, or word, and with conviction achieving your goals. No one can see what you see or hear what you hear, only a vague proximity, and only you will know when your goal is met. In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary stepped to the top of the world on Mt. Everest, 29,000 feet above sea level. No one else had ever done that; now Nepal is a tourist trap with thousands coming through, not all to climb, but many to say they were there.

I heard from several friends lately through Facebook from so many years ago, and one used the word new when describing those days from so long ago. I wrote to another friend this morning about how such a good word for back then, so many things were brand new, almost like opening presents. But today I just don’t rip off the paper and to see the new toy, I look at every minute detail. I try and listen far more carefully, granted, I am old, and my hearing is slightly improving, still better than most people’s. When I was younger, I was rushing through life, and things were new and so much to see, like running through the park to simply say I have been there. I now stop and ponder and wonder about the details of the pieces of the puzzle. No longer is it about getting it done; it is truly about the journey.

“You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things — to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.” Sir Edmund Hillary

We all can achieve, we all can do great things, we all can overcome obstacles; it is confidence, consistency, courage, and curiosity, as Disney said. Keep all in harm’s way on your mind and your hearts, namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,

Mitakuye Oyasin

(We are all related)

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