Learning Directions

The other day my husband returned from an errand and told me that Theo knows exactly how to walk from our house to the bakery three blocks away. We had needed a loaf of bread and while Sam stayed at home with me. Theo led the way. Dad followed. They both came home happily swinging a fresh loaf of rye and filled with tales of community.

As the boys and I spend our days, we usually have destinations and journeys. They blend into one another. Just as Theo and his dad went to get bread, the walk was just as important as the food. Likewise when I say "lets go to music class." The boys know that therefore we will be walking to the train, riding the train, attending class, and then meandering to lunch by way of the Cesar Chavez Learning Garden, train, walk, and possibly past a park. Each part of the journey is our adventure and although we may learn a new song from music class that is far from our only new knowledge. We may also learn why some big old trees were cut down along the edge of our park and we may watch new football posts be erected as we did yesterday.

In Louv's book The Nature Principle one chapter begins with the quote "You can't know who you are until you know where you are." by Wendell Berry.

From a young age I remember hearing the old adage, "it is not the destination, but the journey" that is important. Yet so often as we rush from one place to another we are inherently saying it is the destination that is important. In my heart I have always felt knowing the route from one place to another is important as well. For that reason when I was in college and beginning a semester study in Mexico I decided to take the bus from Minnesota to the program's starting place in Tuscon, AZ. It may be for that reason the program actually had us find our own way- in small groups- from Tuscon, AZ to Mexico City. This travel by bus, by train, and for some by hitchhiking, was a way for us all to get a chance to truly see the diversity of land and lifestyles. This trip was when I felt like I started to really come into my own being. I developed confidence and a lifelong love of traveling by land.

Going by land seeing the people and sights along the way makes you feel connected.
By walking I hope that my boys truly understand their community and themselves and that they are thoughtful as they choose their journeys and destinations.