Where are you headed? (Updated from the original post dated 8/14/13)

Four young students from a local high school were sitting on a  park bench one afternoon, just hanging out, when they saw an old man walking down the dirt country road beside the park. 

The elderly gentleman had a pack slung over one shoulder and used a long, decorated, walking stick that tapped a cadence to his stride and clattered and jingled with numerous beads and small bells that hung from it.  A cobalt blue translucent bead, the size of a handball, decorated the top.  It was held in place by a single brass screw.  Metal pins denoting military service covered the face of his pack, and a sterling silver Christian cross was attached to the pack's main zippered pouch.  He was clean shaved and dressed in well-worn hiking boots, clean blue jeans, and a denim work shirt.  Atop his head was an olive-colored felt, Australian-style fedora with a few colorful feathers decorating the side of the hatband.

One of the students yelled to him, "Hey!"

The old man stopped and turned toward the group, smiling. "Hey, yourself." 

The teenager asked, "Where ya headed?"

 

The man tilted his head in the direction he was going and said, "That way."

The teen glanced at his friends who were giggling at the knowledge that not much was down that road except a trailhead leading into the wilderness.  He looked back at the man, looking for more information. "What's... that way?"

 

The inflection in his voice elicited more giggling from his friends.

The old man continued smiling and raised an eyebrow as he answered, "Where I'm headed."

The other students chuckled as their "spokesman" nibbled his lower lip.  He was getting nowhere in the discussion. "No, I mean...well, don't you have a goal...a final destination?"

"Of course,"  the old man began, "We should all have a goal. When you kids find your goals, never lose sight of them.  Losing sight of them makes it harder to arrive."

The teen was getting a little frustrated at not getting a straight answer.  He let out a sigh and asked his last question in an exasperated tone, "What is your goal?"

At this point, the old man laughed and a twinkle flashed in his eyes as he turned to continue his journey.  He yelled back to them as he walked, "To arrive, young friends.  My goal is the same as yours - to arrive.  Enjoy your journeys!" 

 

Seconds later he went around a bend in the road and was lost from sight behind a tree.  The students waited for him to appear out from the other side of the narrow tree as he continued down the road, but, he never did.  Just like that, he was gone.  It was as if he had walked through an unseen door. 

 

The students got up off the bench and followed their "spokesman", slowly making their way to the tree to see where the old fellow might have disappeared to.  All they found was his walking stick.  It was leaning against the tree, bells, and beads hanging from leather laces, with the cobalt blue "bead" on top.

 

The "spokesman" picked up the walking stick and rolled it in his hands.  Like the bells and beads, the cross from the zippered pouch was now attached to another leather lace.  The teen placed the cross between his thumb and forefinger.  He arched an eyebrow, smiled, and looked toward the narrow dirt path where the road ended.  He whispered to himself, "Enjoy your journey, old man." 

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Where are you headed?  Do you really care, or is it all about the journey?  

I decided to stop caring as soon as I understood several truths: Happiness is the only true success in life, time is a human construct, and our souls move from this life to the next great adventure, and beyond.  

When the train pulls to the final destination, I will stay in my seat and wait for it to leave.  If all I've heard about "heaven" is true, I'm certain to be bored to tears.  My goal?  My goal is to live life.  I'll take the failures, mistakes, loves, and heartbreaks.  I will be truly happy always and in all things, regardless.  Life is what it is until it isn't, and then it is what it is... again.  

The "final destination" is just the notification that you've made it.  But, what about everybody else?  If we made it, aren't we supposed to mentor them or something?  I'm staying on the train so I can enjoy another journey.  How about you?