Heading South

It has been several days since my last post. In the interim, I have left the comfort of the Bay of Islands and have driven hundreds of miles crisscrossing from the Pacific Coast over to the West Coast along the Tasman Sea to see the giant Kauri trees and gannet colony, then back to the eastern shore again for a dunk at Hot Water Beach . During the long hours of driving, my mind has covered a myriad of topics, mainly have considered everything from family issues to personal goals. I have ruminated about geopolitical circumstances especially the value, or lack of value of my dollars, a circumstance which gripes me every time I buy anything. I have thought of countless mock dialogues with  my liberal and conservative friends about world affairs. Also I have spend an inordinate amount of time trying to understand the people I see along the highway, the square-faced Caucasian New Zealanders, the brown-skinned Maoris and, of course, the Chinese, who seem to run every convenience store, take-out joint, and even probably the Jewish delis on the island. Yet, most of all, I look at the geography, the forests, crops, mountains, wildlife, and ocean.

There are drawbacks to all of this floating mind time. My focus on the road loses precision. I have hit the left hand curb hard with my front left wheel much too often and have made deep scratches on the rim and rub marks on the tire. I must be living under a lucky Southern Hemisphere star since I have not had a blow-out. I don't naturally stay to the right enough nor go down the center of the lane. Driving from the right of the car makes me wander while I wonder.

You most likely would like to hear some conclusions about my ideas on any of the above topics, something pithy, profound, or even salacious truths from the mouth of Rabbi Lee, so to speak. Unfortunately, today does not feel like the time to synthesize my observations of New Zealand into sloppy platitudes. I have places to go and people to see and I'm not sure I'm up to the task of saying anything meaningful besides. I suppose such rolling about doesn't necessarily produce much enlightenment anyway nor does it add to my confusion about life either. It is almost like seeing more makes life less expressible. It reinforces over and over the simple notion I have said before: namely, that are a lot of people out there, more than I can imagine. In addition, it strengthens my belief, that, as with me, people live in a continual struggle for redemption, however conscious, from the expectations of others. Plainly, it is a peculiar trip down a road that looks ever shorter the older you get. Today I have new miles to go. I am off to some fly fishing spots near Rotorua and plan to have some sporty stories to tell.