I pick up my phone (not the outmoded land-line, of course, but my mobile "device"), touch the screen once or twice, and view a map of my exact location. Welcome to the world of GPS (Global Positioning System).
When I was child, GPS was not available, so my family used GHS in our travels. That was the "George Howden System" - it consisted of little more than my father's innate sense of direction and his equally strong sense of curiosity. "I wonder where this road goes," he would muse, and off we would go exploring!
As Jan can testify, I inherited that gene. Back roads, taken on the spur of the moment, have led us to unexpected mountain vistas, quaint towns, and forgotten gems of architecture. Nowadays, of course, I do make use of GPS, which offers knowledge and security. But often, I leave the phone in my pocket, and set out by "GHS," guided by curiosity, drawn by the unknown.
Life is never fully mapped. Discoveries await that are not charted on any electronic device. They will not be found by staying safely within the boundaries of the known, on the mapped streets of the familiar.
In Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins sings,
The road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the road has gone,
And I must follow if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then?
I cannot say.
"I wonder where this road goes," Dad would say. So do I.
--by Bill
