Wheels Of Freedom

There's a nip in the air. Thoughts are turning to the upcoming Holiday season. A chance to spend time with friends and family is on our mind. We're a "spread out" people so travel plans are usually necessary to enjoy visits.

May I make a strong personal recommendation? Try wheels. Forget the bargain air fares and the airport security hassles. Take a little extra time and use your wheels.

I'm convinced that a spiritual effect of the 911 events nwas shaking us out of old patterns. We took too muchnfor granted. Our collective tragedy has caused us to reexamine our personal values and develop a new appreciation of those who are dearest to us. And ourncountry.

Wheels can help. Really.

My recent experience of using trusty wheels for travel, instead of flying around like a bird, has given my nprocess of doing a personal values inventory a real jump start.

While it is true that when you FLY OVER this magnificent country, you get a real sense of its majesty and nmagnitude, it is equally true that when you traverse itnby wheels you get a profound sense of its INNARDS.

Foremost I think, we're a country of the dirt -- and the hard scrabble values that spring from soil -- be it richnor poor -- along with this season's crop.

Agriculture, after all, is a no-nonsense endeavor. You can't "spin" the truth this way or that to make the crops come in. You get no crops without good seed. You accomplish nothing by wearing out the soil. You really realize that the Creator IS in control. The sunshine, nthe rain, the elements generally are very little ninfluenced by YOU. You operate day by day on FAITH.
Crops grow in their own time. Not much way to speednthings up, distort things, lie or bamboozle trying to present a pretty picture or "cooking the books to makenyour quarterly numbers look good." The harvest TELLS THE TALE succinctly!

As wheels take you down the highways of this incredible nation, the utility poles ticking the miles away, you're hypnotized by white stripes dashing that black ribbon to nowhere -- and everywhere -- and you FEEL things differently.

For one, you get a sense of how incredibly blessed thenUSA is as a nation. All of the robust resources that God has entrusted us with. You recognize what a great system we have in this country -- when it is kept PURE -- andnhow it MUST have bee
Divinely Inspired. You see much tangible proof of hard work and what it has created --nboth the good and some of the not so good.

You get a different sense of our people. Good people.
Not the top ONE per cent in this country who own THIRTYnPER CENT of the ENTIRE USA wealth. But the rest of us.
You see folks going about every day life.

You think about THEIR personal values. Their work, their families, their friends. Their confusions, their hopes and dreams. Their histories. Their vulnerabilities. Their fears. What they know from their own life experiences. What they're being told by the daily media. What they think they know. And what they may not really know.

And most of all, USA wheel travel, for me at least, is a profound and stirring reminder of FREEDOM. The freedomnto get up and go. The freedom to decide which way tonpoint yourself today. The freedom of which route to follow, what sights to see, what destination to choose. All on your own schedule. Traveling as light, or asnheavy as you want. The FREEDOM that created and builtnthis country! A more spiritual theme, I can't imagine.
May it be everlasting.

Funny isn't it when we think of freedom, we say "free asna bird". And yet my recent experience with wheel travel has taught me that the old turtle probably has a heck ofna lot more freedom than we ever thought.

Try some "turtle freedom" for yourself. Get you some wheels and GO. I highly recommend it. It will help you FOCUS and CELEBRATE THE GOOD.

Happy Holidays and happy trails!

Copyright 2002 Timothy Dexter Latus, All Rights Reserved.
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You have permission to publish this article for any andnall purposes as long as no changes are made and thencopyright and credit is given to the author. Pleasenlet me know if you use this article by sending an Email.ntimothy@psychic2020.com