The wonderful, and wonderfully frightening people of the road less traveled


I love the road less traveled, and have spent most of my life there, for various different reasons. And the people that I've met there, although everyone is different, have tended to mostly be what I call my "frightened little animals", and since that's how my journey began, I understand.

If there were a way to Google "frightened little animal in Minneapolis as a kid" it would be a picture of me. I was so shy as a little kid that even doing the simplest social tasks was extremely painful for me, right up through high school. If you went to high school with me, you may not even remember me, or the people that I hung around with, we stayed in the shadows, which was safer.

But after high school I had decided that this was no way to live, and that I would throw myself out into the cold cruel world, and become more sociable, which I made an attempt at, when I moved to Phoenix at age 19, and then when I moved to Los Angeles at age 25. And I did make great progress. I was never someone who crowded into bars, or stadiums, but I went to parties, and I introduced myself to strangers. If you had met me back then you would have always thought that I was sociable. I prided myself on doing that.

But I was really never comfortable in crowds, and in traffic. I preferred the road less traveled, where I could breathe, and my mind could have time to settle a bit. I found places like that in LA, which wasn't easy, and when I moved back to Phoenix it was, and remains, a very easy thing to do.

Of course the road less traveled isn't completely empty, there are people there. And the vast majority of people that I've met on the road less traveled are my "frightened little animals", whom I dearly love. They come in all shapes and sizes, but most of them are small, and tend to be pretty defenseless. I assume that these people have a small sidearm hidden, which they keep handy whenever a stranger approaches, so I don't rush up on them, any more than I'd rush up to a rattlesnake.

The road less traveled can be a lonely and dangerous place, and people who spend a lot of time there know it. A cynical eye can keep you from being hurt, so it's expected. I lift my head up, and wave from a distance. No cowboy in his right mind would fail to do that if he saw another rider in the distance. This is a universal signal that someone acknowledges a shared space, but that's all. Close is close enough, partner!

I just love the sound of the quiet of the desert, and it's possible to hear if you know where to go. Yes, you have to get far from the madding crowd, to the road less traveled. But if you choose to go there, beware, there are rattlers out there, give 'em space.

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