Pathways con't...

I'm not sure when the fence went back up, probably for "crowd control" for the Memorial Day concert at the Capitol.  I first noticed it only a couple of weeks after writing about it coming down.    Anyway, there it was again blocking the newly groomed pathway.

Well, wouldn't you know it, the old human spirit of defiant freedom just keeps on keeping on.  Here is what the fence looks like now:

Last week some friends rode their bikes from Pittsburgh to Washington DC on the Cumberland and C&O Trails.  Their last day on the trail was right after some pretty violent weather had come through the region. Numerous large trees had fallen all along the trail ahead, blocking normal passage.  Did this stop their ride?  Absolutely not!  It simply slowed them down occasionally just long enough to lift their bikes over the natural roadblocks re-mount and keep on peddling.

The Mall pathway and my friends' trail experience both remind me of all the obstacles that keep cropping up in our lives, especially those we create for ourselves (which is probably most of them).  Just when we think we have released fear, anger, envy, or any other manner of keeping ourselves down and in place; just when we we think the pathway is clear, up pops a familiar fence.

Should we let it stop us?  Absolutely not!   Fences, trees, and fear are only obstacles when we allow them the power to keep us from walking, peddling, and living.