My day was going badly--traffic jams and missed phone calls and rescheduled meetings. I wasn't blaming anyone but myself (and the unknown forces behind all that traffic), but I was feeling increasingly annoyed with the world, and I still had another 40 minutes to go in the car. I could tell that things were only going to get worse from here.
And then, in a moment of inspiration, I had a little dialogue with myself:
Do I need to continue down this path? Do I need to push on?
No.
Could I turn around and go home?
Yes.
OK, then. New plan for the day.
I was on 280 in San Bruno, and I took the next exit to turn around and return to San Francisco. As I pulled off I saw signs for Golden Gate National Cemetery, a huge facility that I've driven past more than a thousand times but have never visited--until today.
I took a short detour, passed through the gates and drove slowly up to the summit of a huge mound at the center of the cemetery. The view today was almost identical to the photo above (thank you, Pargon), although the Memorial Day flags were gone.
Looking out over the graves of 139,000 veterans was sobering, and it put my "bad day" in perspective very quickly. It was blustery and sunny, weather that makes me feel very much alive. Being surrounded by the memories of so many people who had sacrificed their lives while I could stand there and enjoy the sun and the wind helped me see just how meaningless and insubstantial my problems were and how much I have to be grateful for.
So the first lesson I learned today was how easy it can be to stop and reverse course when things are not going well. Sometimes persistence is called for, and sometimes it's a failure to consider all your options.
And the second lesson was that even when things seem not to be going well, they really are. Really, they are.
Photo by Pargon.
