The Station, a Philosophy of Living

Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision.  We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent.  We are traveling by train.  Out the window we drink in the passing scene of cars on a nearby asphalt ribbon and children are waving.   We see cattle grazing on a nearby hillside.  Smoke wafts from a distant power plant. From our window we see  row after row of fat stalks of corn and tall blades of wheat.  The entire landscape of flatlands,  valleys, mountains, and rolling hillsides.  Through the open window comes a strong, warm, sweet-smelling wind, moist from a brief rain shower.

Uppermost in our minds is the final destination.  On a certain day at a certain hour we will pull into the station.  Bands will be playing and flags waving.  Once we get there, we think, so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle.  How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes of loitering,  waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.

"When we reach the station that will be it"  we promise ourselves.  "When I'm 25" A AWhen I buy a new 450SL Mercedes-Benz@     "When I put my last kid through college."   "When I have paid off the mortgage."    "When I get a promotion.@  AWhen I reach the final  page of retirement..... I will live happily ever after.@

Sooner or later we must realize there is no station.  There is no one place to arrive at.  The true joy of life is the trip.  The station is only a dream which constantly outdistances us.

"RELISH THE MOMENT" is a good motto.  It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad.  It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of  tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today.

So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles.  Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers; watch more sunsets, laugh more,  cry less.  Life must be lived as we go along. THE STATION WILL COME SOON ENOUGH.