Thinking back . . .

I was browsing through my on-line pictures this morning and thinking back on my recent trip with my teenage son. He was a near-perfect travel mate in that he was up for any adventure and willing to get up at the earliest hour if it meant we were heading out to see a new place. He decided the first day of the trip that he would order something new from the menu and try new things. He also turned out to have an amazing sense or natural direction so he led most of our excursions on our own. It took us a few days to get our bearings in Munich, Germany but were soon able to navigate the streets to and from our hotel without too much trouble. The first couple of days, however, we saw a lot of unplanned parts of the city due to a less-than-adequate map and a few wrong turns on our part. In fact, when we went on a day trip outside the city, we often saw how far our wanderings had actually gotten us before we found 'home' again!

One, drizzly day, my son was positively inspired. We had gotten some snacks at the department store and he suggested we purchase a couple of umbrellas in case the rain got worse. We then took off to explore, each assuming the other one was leading the trip that morning. We walked and walked, the rain started pouring but we were happily protected by our new umbrellas. Suddenly, we glance over and there is a river to the left of us! We walk a lot further and there is a bridge crossing the river. I stop our travels and ask my son if he knew where we were at this point. He looked at me and said, "I thought you were mapping things out for this walk!"

I suggested we cross the newly-found bridge but my son intelligently stated that since we didn't cross one in the first place, we would probably end up really, really lost if we did so now. We sighed and retraced our steps. With my son in charge, his nose for direction took over and an hour later we were back in familiar territory. From then on, we decided to make sure we knew who was leading and who was following.

It's kind of like how many people live in that they don't make a conscious decision on who they want/should follow and when they should be the leader. Explains a lot about the state of the world today. There is a definite lack of direction and no one is checking the credentials of the leaders.