I wonder what’s down this away…
The key to a wonderful life is to never stop wandering into wonder.
-Suzy Kassem
A fundamental part of being a Homo sapiens is the necessity to wander, to explore. This has been true since our earliest ancestors stepped foot on the plains of east Africa. They felt, then, the burning need to see what was on the other side of the next hill, to seek out what was around the bend in the river, to find what was miles offshore, across the sea. The resulting diaspora spread our species, in a remarkably short period of time, to every continent of the planet, except, perhaps, Antarctica, and to most islands in the Pacific. They populated Mother Earth more completely than any other hominid species. This, in turn, helped our species survive, when many of the others did not, in part because it meant that if there were sudden deadly changes in the environment in one place, there would be other places where those changes would not threaten man’s continued existence. The resulting evolutionary pressure probably selected out this voyaging trait and it has passed down to us. That it is buried deep in all our genes seems evident as it exists in people across all cultures as well as down through the ages.
Today, most of us feel this essential necessity to some degree or another, although not everyone to the same extent. There are highly motivated people, like Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery, whose souls drove them to risk their lives to search over 4 thousand miles across western America, to find out what was in that place where no “civilized man” had been before. There are mountain climbers like Sir Edmund Hillary, who climbed Mt. Everest simply “because it was there,” explorers like Richard Burton, who almost died trying to find the source of the White Nile, and astronauts like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, who were drawn to the moon like Waldo is to sticks.
Even if most people are not compelled to perform such dramatic and consequential deeds, I’m guessing there are few of us, if any, who don’t feel some urge to go outside our familiar bubble. The thought of visiting Europe, or Asia, or Africa appeals to most everyone. Even a road trip to some place we’ve never been has an allure. However, it is also true that we all also feel needs for security, comfort and social acceptance that can push that wandering seduction deep into the background. It may be pressed low down on the list of priorities in some of us, but I’d bet it’s still there.
Recently, Waldo and I have been continuing to force our way along an abandoned piece of the defunct Massachusetts Central Railroad, through bushy, weedy thickets with embedded saplings and thorny multiflora rose. This is one big pain in the posterior, sometimes elsewhere, and I’m not doing it because I enjoy it. I tolerate it. What motivates me to continue is the genetic, marrow-deep, desire to see what it’s like, just up ahead. It feels good to give into an instinctual drive to do what our ancestors did over the millennia – explore. Appealing, too, is that it’s likely that few, if any, have ventured this way in a very long time. That makes me feel kind of special. The fact that it is difficult also gives me a sense of accomplishment when I’m done.
Waldo, he’s a simpler creature. He truly enjoys bushwhacking and does it with a fever. I may be anthropomorphizing, but I’d bet he also likes to wander around in new places, sniff stuff he’s never smelled and probe into spaces hard to get into. It’s not just man who likes to go places he has not visited before. Many other animals do too, although they haven’t developed it into the fine art of man. I think all animals must have it to some degree because we all have to search for food.
Even as I plod along, searching for the least ensnaring route and Kungfu fighting the thorny stems trying their best to impale me, I am not discouraged. There are no obstacles in Waldo and my wandering paths, just crawl-unders, climb-overs and work-arounds. I am so focused on finding my way through that I’m not the slightest bit tempted to give up altogether. Along the way, I find the magic of being alive amidst the beauty of Mother Nature.
And I get to exercise my primordial instinct to roam.
This way looks promising…