Well, I'm home at long last!
At just less than two months, my journey of discovery was a much-needed one, one that 'hit the spot', so to speak! I leaned a few things in the course of my travel, one of which was already swimming around in the back of my mind; people are people, no matter what they believe: for the most part, if you treat them like you would like them to treat you, you will usually receive a fair treatment! This is not always the case, unfortunately, sometimes we receive the treatment we deserve, while some people are just plain assholes!
Another thing I learned ( I may have already mentioned this ); I CAN do this! I flew to an island nation far away, walked more than I have for some time & did some things I had been wanting ( if only subconsciously) to do for awhile! One was taking a long trip to a foreign island nation. Another was meeting new friends in these foreign lands. Check & check!
In many ways, this journey, in my mind, was a journey of ( self ) discovery, whereas I tried to leave things as they lay, keeping an open mind & leaning on our Fathers's good provision! I'm certainly not perfect, there are probably things I could have done better & there are others that a certain wisdom would tell me ( & did ) that I should have left undone, but I have no regrets; I'm grateful for the opportunities I was given & the experiences that will stick with me for the rest of my life!
I hadn't thought about it, but as my one brother-in-law remarked, this was my 'sister trip'! I visited with my oldest sister & her family in the Virgin Islands, then my youngest sister & her family in Florida. While I missed seeing her twin & that twin's family in Virginia, I also didn't get to spend as much time in Virginia as I had hoped; maybe next time! After a couple much-needed days with my parents in Virginia, I was headed to Indiana to see yet another sister, one from whom I had distanced myself, as I had from most of my family! For me, this was also a journey of discovery, in the sense of seeking a sort of reconciliation from many of those I had distanced myself from! I trust that I accomplished this goal; although there are still hurdles to overcome & walls to bring crashing down, I have a better feeling about things now!
In many ways, one could say that this trip was simply the latest stage in the journey that our Father set before me long ago! The stage before this was the learning experience I received during my short marriage, the separation & my slow recovery from the devastation & desolation ( still not there )! The best way to look at, I guess, is that life is a journey: one of my favorite sayings is, ' if you're not learning, you're dead'! If you only think of the destination that you want to reach, you're not going to learn much on your journey!
Over the course of this stage of my journey, I AM confident that everything I learned along the way will prove to be useful in the fulfillment of this Jouney we call Life! One thing that we should all note is that, no matter what religion one adheres to, no matter what a person believes, they ARE worthy of our love! We may not like them, we may actually have an intense DIS-like for them, but we can still treat them with kindness & respect, for that is how we like to be treated!
Looking forward to the rest of the Journey,
Charles Haddon Shank
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