The first time I saw Pinocchio, I cried through the whole movie because I didn’t know how he was going to find his way back to Geppetto and the little Tuscan village where he was carved from a piece of wood. The adventures of Pinocchio are entertaining, frightening, and satisfying all in one. But, I didn’t realize it at the time that it was a perfect analogy for life.
Life is cattywampus. It is an exciting journey that starts on the beach in Kaneohe Bay. Looking over at Chinamen’s Hat, it looks like a perfect journey so you jump into the water and start swimming. Sixty years later, after adventures with sharks, mercenaries, corrupt politicians, kind villagers, and people who spoke only Tahitian or French, you still haven’t made it.
Was it important to actually make it to Chinamen’s Hat? Or, was the adventure actually what you were after?
Grandpa Nishimura, when he left Japan, had no idea what was in store for him. Nor would he be able to return for 50 years. When Jane Williams married into the Hardy family, she left Ireland, never to return, never to see her family again.
Brian Tracy, in his youth, decided to cross the Sahara from Bechar to Bourem. The method for crossing the Sahara Desert was to drive to the barrel that you could see in the distance. Once reaching that barrel, you could see the next barrel. And, so on.
Maybe life is just following that next barrel. Rich and full of pleasures, happiness, sadness, love, hate . . . it’s cattywampus, and it’s worth every minute of it.