The Middle Of The Road

Uncle Bubba has been on the road for work and it's been another long trip: 50 days since he's seen home. The previous trip was 54 days long and it's all starting to take its toll. He's feeling more and more that he doesn't really live at home... imagine that. How could a body when they aren't actually there? Maybe luckily for him, Uncle Bubba is a little slow on the uptake so it takes time for things to sink in, but he's had almost all he can take from this job. Yet he attempts to find solace in the old fashioned notion of being a good provider and being thankful for actually having a job in this day and age. In this recent adventure, he is 1000 miles from home but in a part of the country that is just a few hours drive from where he was raised to be a man. In colonial times this would have been a long day's horse ride but today it's a straight shot up a major highway. He made the trip in early November and spent a delightful weekend in the old hometown. But so often this holiday season he has thought of the family and friends that live at the other end of that highway and wondered why none of them found a way to come to see him.  They knew that he was there day in and day out, night after night alone in his hotel room. He had pretty much convinced himself that it is because they really do not like him. And why not, actions speak louder than words; don't they? But then he came across a quotation by the essayist Edward Hoagland that states, "Country people do not behave as if they think life is short; they live on the principle that it is long, and savor variations of the kind best appreciated if most days are the same." It struck Uncle Bubba that he lives his life as if life is short. His world is big and he lives with the thought of not having regrets if the end comes tomorrow. It's his core philosophy, it's his lifestyle. He unintentionally left those folks at the end of the highway behind for that very reason and maybe they're holding a grudge because of it. But this quotation brought to mind a different perspective that he hadn't considered; these folk have their own core philosophies and lifestyles that they will not change for any reason. Aren't we always trying to get others to see our point of view without ever taking the time to consider theirs? In Bubbie's view there are a few people at the other end of that highway that he would like to try and meet in the middle of the road. For that, someone may have to realize that a highway runs two ways and to meet in the middle takes effort. In the end the parties that be should weigh the value of commonalities; to quote Mr. Hoagland, "...both try to cherish in their mind's eye the notion of a better life ahead."