ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Life is many different things, but one thing for sure. It's motion. We are -- even in our dreams -- in a kind of perpetual motion. Traveling from there to here.

"There" is who we used to be and what we used to do. For those with short-term memories, their past is often a web of gossamer images. For others, their autobiographical recall is stunningly accurate. Either way, the roads we've traveled -- both as individuals and as nations -- helps determine and shape the roads we're taking now. We cannot un-walk the past; but what we can do is try to decode its map.

As it turns out, part of the code is locked inside the lives of those who are no longer with us. Parents, siblings, teachers, clergy, intimate friends. What they knew about us -- what often we didn't even know about ourselves -- is now gone.Virtually irretrievable except stirring in our personal remembrances and written in our national histories

But the road beckons. Life is motion. So the walk here continues.

"Here" is who we are at this point in time and what we are doing with it. Few of us are what we expected to be, fewer still are what we wanted to be, and perhaps none are what we thought we were. But we try. And the trying on this road is called: Life.

Biologists plumb the depths of our physiology to identify those genes and lobes and circuits which can help explain our personal journey. Historians plumb the layers of our parties and politicians and generals which can help explain our national journey. There are also philosophers who plumb the mysteries of our souls which can help us draft new and better maps. These are good men and women doing good work on our behalf. The kind of people we study in college, argue over in coffee shops, see reflected in our novels and theatre.

But once we move on, once we get caught up in the whoosh of everyday living and embroiled in the clash of everyday partisanship, how much head and heart do we devote to these wise ones...?

This is perhaps the epic question in the life of every individual. And every nation. Motion -- yes, it is the stuff of life. But direction -- now that is the essence of life. Traveling from "there" to "here" is either ascent or descent. Take your choice. While you still can....