WHAT MAKES A PATH ON THE EARTH

Thoreau says it's not a single footstep, and that's certainly true. A single footstep wouldn't get the stepper very far at all. "That's no step for a stepper," good friend Mike McCluer says, usually about a tough golf shot. Even on our newly seeded Winter rye, a single step would make at the most an indentation.

Thoreau continues with "we walk again and again". Sounds like what the missus and I are about ready to do. Three miles with only a few variations. When the golf course is closed for seeding, we may walk a few holes that skirt our neighborhood. When we might not have the time or desire to walk 3, we may take the route that allows us to return to our house after two or 2 1/2 miles. And we make a deeper physical path according to HD Thoreau. But no matter how many times we walk it even over a period of years, we won't be the ones who necessitate a street re-paving.

He was writing about ideas. A sort of "we are what we think" mentality. That's the path, the legacy that we leave. So what occupies our mind? How much do we think hedonistic thoughts? How much do we think controlling thoughts? How about sacrificial thoughts? Fantasies? Regrets? Remorse? If I had only known then thoughts?

I know he went into town every week or so to hear the gossip. I don't know if he was a newspaper reader, but I would think so. At least when he went in to Concord. So maybe we are what section of the newspaper we read first.

It might surprise you that I don't read the sports section first. Nor the front page section. I start with the comics and a puzzle. Sports are next, followed by the Everyday section to check the weather.

Now, what intellectual path I'm taking should be self-evident. My path, I fear, would not be well trod.