Walking long enough…
The Cheshire Cat moon cheered me up a little on this cold (by California standards) Livermore night, as we made our way home from dinner at a local restaurant. It reminded me of part of Alice’s dialogue with the Cat:
`Cheshire Puss,' she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. `Come, it's pleased so far,' thought Alice, and she went on. `Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'`That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
`I don't much care where--' said Alice.`Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.`--so long as I get SOMEWHERE,' Alice added as an explanation.`Oh, you're sure to do that,' said the Cat, `if you only walk long enough.'
Walking long enough is always the trick. Those of us who have walked for a seemingly very long time occasionally look over our shoulders at the path behind us with both amazement and amusement - a little bit like the Grateful Dead's comment in "Truckin' " - "What a long, strange trip it's been!"
After I got home and finished some computer work that I had interrupted, I checked my email and was immediately cheered by contact from a good friend in high tech. I had not heard from her in awhile, but she is the kind of person I admire: direct, honest, hard-working, and sincere (a type that is quite rare in the high-tech environment). Often, we find more folks like these below:
`In THAT direction,' the Cat said, waving its right paw round, `lives a Hatter: and in THAT direction,' waving the other paw, `lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad.' `But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
My friend brought me good news and buoyed my spirits for this evening. It was as though the Cheshire Cat moon grinning through the cold clear air on the way home was a good omen, a sign that perhaps, at least for tonight, I had walked long enough.
`All right,' said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.
[According to Project Gutenberg, the book "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is not copyrighted in the United States. It was one of the first books entered into Project Gutenberg.]
-Bill at Cheshire Cat Photo™
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