Follow That Skid Mark!

This past weekend I was at O’Day Camp, my retreat in the Shawangunk Mountains in New York State. I was driving way up into the mountains to take a snowy, wintry hike. There are a lot of twists and turns on that mountain road, and there’s one hair-pin turn that you really have to slow down for -- all the way down to 5 mph. It’s not the type of drive you want to rush.

Many people, when driving down the mountains, tend to go too fast and veer into the oncoming lane of cars straining up the grade. You can often see broken glass on the side of the road courtesy of those people who think the speed limit does not apply to them.

On this particular drive I also notice skid marks on those mountain roads, lots and lots of skid marks. Certainly skid marks can indicate where a baby deer walked into the road and a driver had to work fast to avoid making a Bambi pancake -- but most skid marks are a signal that someone was going too fast and not paying attention.

I’m fascinated by our country’s “Follow That Skid Mark!” mentality.

I look at the infamous female Hollywood twenty-somethings -- the talented, the talent-free and the already has-beens who are in and out handcuffs almost as much as they’re in and out of rehab. And we eat it up! Those alcoholics in mini-skirts make the cover of our papers!

We delight in their out-of-control dangerous wrecks of lives. And we stay transfixed, staring at those living skid marks until some ‘professional athlete’ type steals their thunder with other deplorable skid-mark type behavior often involving not only booze and drugs, but also whores, guns and dog fights. (No offense to guns, whores and dogs.)

There is a lesson to be learned in a skid mark. Don’t follow it! Slow down. Take a breath. And figure out where the heck you’re going. And, when you get a chance, pull over and take a look over the cliff where the skid mark ended. There is nothing glamorous about a skid mark, folks.
Stop following!

I look forward to hearing your stories of immense personal struggle, and will continue to inspire you .