Point A and Point B are 100% certified Grade, er, A Certainties. The only questions seem to be a matter of when and how.
We burst into the world at Point A. Or sometimes we have to be pulled out depending on our level of infantile stubbornness. Immediately we set foot at the beginning of a Path. It is one of many Paths that eventually lead to Point B. At Point B we may exit in a brilliant flash of flame and and sound. One of our vital life-sustaining mechanisms may crap out. Or perhaps someone will bring a bloody war to our land and we die in a house to house cleansing.
In any event, we have before us a series of roads to take to get to Point B. Of course, as young infants we really don't have a clear concept of Point B, so it initially doesn't really inform our Path, other then natural fight or flight responses like "Feed Me." As we grow, however, we establish more control and more responsibility for our own orienteering. At every step of the way, it seems, there is a new turn that can be taken; left, right, left-right. Which do we choose? Why do we choose? Are we even aware of it?
Along the paths there is another phenomenon that is occuring. As we are walking our Paths, and deciding where to go (whether through instince or deliberate thought process), we are subjected to, and subjecting others to, Shrapnel.
Shrapnel are the bits of experience, events, ideas, and so on that are flying around as we walk the Paths. It's as though there are roadside bombs that are in a continuous state of detination. We walk along the path as a young child and at a certain point, we are subjected to Religious Shrapnel. Whether or not to follow our parents' deities? Whether or not to NOT follow deities. Whether or not to follow a deity different from our family's. As we are approaching the age of 18, we experience Shrapnel from education and career. Guidance counselors asking you if you want to attend the college fairs. Your Dad asking you if you are going to that ivy-league college he did. Or perhaps your Mom runs a flower shop and is expecting you to take over, after all it is called Me and My Daughter's Blooms.
There are, of course many, many other examples of Shrapnel. Of course, we aren't totally innocent in all of this. We too are part of the Shrapnel creating process. When we become parents we subject our children to expectations, wishes, and wants for their lives. As neighbors, we may be part of a collective attitude about how people's houses and yards should look. As members of Political Party X, we put signs in our yard saying, vote for Rudy Obama. We are throwing out just as much as others are throwing at us.
Do not be disillusioned about Shrapnel. It isn't all bad. There is Shrapnel of Art and Creativity. Walking by a park and seeing some folks drumming and creating music. The infective beat that is travelling across the air, that mandates that you move and groove. The lady down the road who is a brilliant artist, displaying her work at the local Sidewalk Art Exhibit. There is the Shrapnel of Happy Childlike Anarchy. Your little girl acting like a goon, and you can't help but to want to play along. Experiencing the joy in improvisational imagination, going with the flow. This is the sort of Shaprnel you WANT embedded in your flesh.
Next time, we will examine Shrapnel and how it affects the Paths we take...
