Jim headed off in his car, heading for the venue; he thought the journey might take him just over an hour if he took the M1 motorway. It would be good to see the boys again and to chat over the old days. When they met they always had a grand night sharing jokes and laughs.
He had been gone about forty-five minutes when the phone in the car rang and Marys voice came over the speaker. “Jim,” she said, “be very careful. I have just heard the news on the radio, there is a car travelling the wrong way up the M1. He replied, “A car going the wrong. Let me tell you there is more than one going the wrong way there seems to be about a hundred of them.”
There is another story of an old man who was seen one day by a crowd of people as he jumped into a raging river. They all stood in awe as they watched him certain that he would be swept over the falls to his death. As they watched they saw him being swept ever closer and then without warning over the cliff in the raging waterfall. They gasped and held their breaths. Then as they watched they saw him emerge from the water and head back towards them.
When he arrived back at the spot where he had entered the water they asked him how he had managed it. He told them that he had fallen into this river at that spot as a very young child. The natural reaction of a child is to merge with the water and not to try and fight against it. He had learned this and for the rest of his life he had on a regular basis used this as a form of exercise.
There are times when it is wiser to go with the flow than to fight against it, to go with the crowd and not find you are heading straight into certain danger. But there are also times when to make a stand or to make a change of direction is the way to go. The wise thing is to know when and where.
This blog is linked to my other blog where I discuss the artwork used it can be seen at:- The Flow of Life
Thanks to all those who have sent messages of well wishes. Still in a great deal of pain but am assured it will get better after a couple of weeks.
Wise words, Ralph. Oft times it seems I am ever going against the flow. (And so glad your story didn't end the way I thought it would with the man on the M1. I had such a sinking feeling at the beginning of it.)
ReplyDeleteWould I ever have a story that ended on a low note? I do not think you ae going against the flow at all Autumn Leaves seems to me you can be very positive.
ReplyDeleteI have a drummer, a rather erratic drummer! Never know where the beat leads....but flow I must to its tempo!
ReplyDeleteUphill, down dale and unlike your swimmer, in unknown waters, over falls, into pits and whirling rapids.
I am rather attached to my drummer, each day leads a different course. Rather that than the day as an insecure teenager I followed the crowd and smoked my first cigarette! That was enough of crowd following for me.
Yes, I'll follow the drums
Driving through the mountains from Oregon into California last month, I had my first experience ever of facing head-on a driver going the wrong direction on the freeway. Thankfully, we were able to avoid him by squeezing into the lane next to us (which had a full-sized snow plow in it, also moving to the side). I was sure that I would hear the sound of metal crunching before I stopped hearing anything. Thankfully, no such thing happened. Even more tricky -- how do you get a person OFF the wrong side of a divided freeway when he doesn't know he needs help?
ReplyDeleteWhat a very nice and thought-provoking post. If only you could have included how we can know when to go with the flow and when to follow our hearts!
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