Wednesday, October 11, 2017
The Danger Of Not Knowing Where You Want To Go
By: Donovan Baldwin
Recently, I told a story elsewhere about myself, as a young soldier, on a train in Germany in the 1960's.
I made a mistake, got off at the wrong spot, but got back on in time. Two other young soldiers were not as lucky.
They were headed to Augsburg.
Unlike me, they did not speak any German.
They kept reading their orders, and repeating the word "Augsburg", reading every sign, seeking that word.
Suddenly, as the train stopped at a station, one grabbed the other's arm, said urgently, "This is it!", and they both jumped off the train just as it began to leave the station.
I knew we were not anywhere near Augsburg but, could not get to them in time to stop them.
As the train pulled out, I saw the sign the young soldier had seen. It said "Ausgang", which means "Exit", in German.
So, they exited into a strange place, stranger even than Augsburg, simply because it wasn't...Augsburg, that is.
I am sure they got where they were going eventually.
Many of us go through life so intent on getting somewhere, achieving something, focused so intently on our goal, that we overlook, or misread, the signs and symbols we really need to be looking for.
"A little learning is a dangerous thing." So's a lot of learning, if we apply it incorrectly.
Perhaps NOT knowing what we really want, and where we want to go, takes us to the wrong destination. When you're not really aware of those two things, you can get off a lot of wrong "exits", or "Ausgangs".
I made a mistake, got off at the wrong spot, but got back on in time. Two other young soldiers were not as lucky.
They were headed to Augsburg.
Unlike me, they did not speak any German.
They kept reading their orders, and repeating the word "Augsburg", reading every sign, seeking that word.
Suddenly, as the train stopped at a station, one grabbed the other's arm, said urgently, "This is it!", and they both jumped off the train just as it began to leave the station.
I knew we were not anywhere near Augsburg but, could not get to them in time to stop them.
As the train pulled out, I saw the sign the young soldier had seen. It said "Ausgang", which means "Exit", in German.
So, they exited into a strange place, stranger even than Augsburg, simply because it wasn't...Augsburg, that is.
I am sure they got where they were going eventually.
Many of us go through life so intent on getting somewhere, achieving something, focused so intently on our goal, that we overlook, or misread, the signs and symbols we really need to be looking for.
"A little learning is a dangerous thing." So's a lot of learning, if we apply it incorrectly.
Perhaps NOT knowing what we really want, and where we want to go, takes us to the wrong destination. When you're not really aware of those two things, you can get off a lot of wrong "exits", or "Ausgangs".
Labels: Augsburg, Ausgang, destination, donovan baldwin, Germany, railroad, soldiers, travel
