Bill Bryson often says it like none else.
And isn’t that true? We rush to make life easier, happier, more fulfilled. Yet, in the hustle, we forget to pause and ask if it’s all meaningful.
What if we shifted focus?
What if we sought less, simplified more, and made space for what truly counts? Comfort and happiness are fleeting; meaning endures. Perhaps it’s time to pause and ponder.
It was evening.
It was a long ride. It seemed like we had left San Fransisco ages ago. It was a comfortable road ride. A boring one at that. If you took away some superlative scenery that lurked beyond the windscreen, it would have been a damp squib.
This was quite unlike an Indian highway. Bereft of random breathlessness and excitement. Like there was no bull that shows up in the middle of the road on a whim. Or a tractor that decides to swerve and come face to face with you just as you were wondering if you were faster than then clouds in the sky. You get the picture, don’t you?
In any case, we were looking forward to the evening and night ahead. For up ahead was Las Vegas. Stories abounded about what all could happen there. The excitement in us seemed to cause the engine to purr a trifle more. A new tune played out in my mind.
It was then that I looked at the traffic that was coming out of Vegas. Headed home. I tried reading into the blank emotion on their faces as the cars whizzed by.
Yet, it was easy to recall my favourite line from ‘English, August’ that I read several years ago. “The ecstasy of the arrival never compensates for the emptiness of the departure”.
(at Las Vegas, Nevada)
What goes up necessarily comes down. That’s the cycle of life.
And then I thought of Gibran. And shamelessly reproduce it here. “
Then a woman said, "Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.” And he answered: Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that hold your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.” But I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed. Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced. When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.“ #poetry #Gibran #KahlilGibran #joy #sorrow #Needles #UK #isleofwight #travel #travelblogging #travelblogger #life #quote (at The Needles at Alum Bay, Isle of Wight)
