What's the Rush?

over 10 years ago
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Bryan (bryans)

79 posts

Every once in a while, when an emotion and/or visual stands up and moves to the front of the line, it becomes both therapeutic and necessary to put pen to paper (or in this case hand to keyboard) and allow that single feeling to share its story.

I adore my drives. There’s just something about the vibration whenever rubber meets pavement that sends a thrill throughout my entire body and provides me with an unparalleled sense of calm. Perhaps it’s because both the feeling and sound are synonymous with how I’ve always perceived silence or perhaps it’s simply due to a feeling of living without restraint. It could even be related to both, but as my Grandma Jackie always said, “There’s no need to put too much thought into much of anything.”

When I was in my late teens, I’d spend countless hours exploring the open roads and blaring music without a single care or even a destination. From midnight trips to Denver, St Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis, or even unnamed tiny towns populated with families that grew up together – I just had to get away. It was never about the destination, but about the drive itself.

Some time ago, for reasons unknown to me, I turned the radio off. With a simple push of a button, the world around me completely transformed. There was so much to see, so much to feel, and so many stories screaming to be told. It was almost as if the music created by wire and circuitry alone had been replaced by songs sung by the universe itself. Today was similar and it was perfect.

Arizona highways are brilliant. Rows of decrepit foliage line both your left and right and attach themselves to barren lands marked only by varying shades of brown. Some see it as boring or plain, or nothing, but I’m fascinated by it. I see it as a vast land where both pioneers and natives once stood trying to understand the same intricacies of life that are tantamount to our thought patterns today. When you pay attention, you will see where mothers, involved in their own pedagogy, raised children to be the best they could be. You will see areas where families came together at night to share stories in front of the fire, and if you look close enough, you’ll even see where the mystic sat alone in the distance, legs crossed, coming to realize all that is. It’s so incredibly astounding when you take just as second to tune in.

What I don’t understand is today’s rush and today’s worry. Cars zoom by and everyone is worried about everything. It’s politics, economic restraints, getting that promotion in a job they hate, bills, the he said she said ordeal from yesterday, and more! The list goes on and on (and on). While I do understand that various factors have probably brainwashed us all to some warped extent, it’s frustrating to feel their hearts pound against iron walls in an attempt to find freedom. I literally want to reach out of my car sometimes, grab their shoulders, and show them everything they are missing.

On a brighter note, there was someone today that really stood out. She was in her mid-seventies and was so incredibly happy. In the backseat of her car sat a new plant and it was obvious that she was looking forward to getting home and adding it to the garden she had tended for years. This garden, which was her happiness and greatest accomplishment next to her children and her children’s children, spanned across half of her backyard. The vibrant colours radiated her entire landscape and it could have easily been mistaken for a painter’s most illustrious masterpiece. I could see her carefully tend to every flower and every plant each morning while giving them unmatched amounts of love; it was blissful. She could then sit for hours and relish the beauty, the scents, and the life found in her own creation. Even though she was excited, she wasn’t in a rush to get home- she was enjoying the drive and the visualizations of how it was going to look. It was refreshing to know that not all of us are caught up in our own self created turmoil all the time. I would have loved the opportunity to share a cup of coffee with her because I know she would have told the greatest of stories and I also know that I could have learned something.

Maybe I did. Maybe she gave further confirmation that we all need to slow down a bit, stop worrying and panicking about things that really don’t mean that much, and start knowing that each of us has the inner wherewithal to see the wonder in every moment.