A Path

A path, finding a way through.

A moment of calm has settled in again. But perhaps it is more of a moment of acknowledgment, of observation, of being aware of it, of finding some way to name what-this-is while not being overwhelmed by it. Or trying not to be overwhelmed for a moment while I catch my breath. This calm pause is only a surface skim, like the way the surface skim of our earth is firm, cool, and solid. Amid the rough moments in its surface, there is a path.

Our earth’s center is about 4,000 miles deep, with the earth having a diameter of just under 8,000 miles. The earth’s surface is a bit over 20 miles thick. (This is shorter than the distance from here to the town a few exits down on the freeway.) Beneath that is the molten core of our earth. Above that molten core, the surface plates quake from time to time, sometimes mildly, sometimes not. But at this moment, there is stillness.

This stillness where I am this morning makes it easier to move through the day. I am able to look out over the landscape. I am searching for the horizon and yet I cannot find it, from where I am. I can only see a path through the mountains, through the outcroppings of the earth’s skim, across this rugged surface plate.

(And I feel much like this today, myself, like I have a surface plate and a molten core.)

And there, on the surface ahead of me, is a path to follow. Staying on it sometimes is a struggle. But I cling to it. Around each corner, I tend to think, ah, I can see the end of the path—but no, I turn the corner, and it continues on. And so I continue on, amid the quakes of emotional upthrusts responding to “leaders” around us who are “managing” this virus’s spread. This management consists keeping the curve down so ERs and ICUs are manageable rather than being unmanagable with as doctors and nurses struggle to contain their exposure to the virus. It’s as if those “leaders” are aiming for a gentler trip toward herd immunity, as if it is unavoidable. And now, perhaps, it is unavoidable. So, while walking what I hope is the easiest path through all this, I take this moment to pause, to catch my breath, and I begin again. Step by step.

This is a slow, long journey. It is a journey taken on foot, across this far-reaching, rugged landscape, and we walk it together, day by day by day.