It's Unclear Where We're Going

Yesterday C (my rowing buddy) and I braved 90 minutes on the water despite the very strong winds which tried to swamp our little boat. The wind was unsuccessful; however, the fact that it was windy sets up today's thing to ponder.

Because of the wind, boats (and there were a lot of them) were going every which way, disregarding the normal traffic pattern, in an effort to find the best water. C and I were coming around the turn at the tip of the "island" (it's a peninsula these days) near the southern end of the lake, to head north along the fairly calm western edge. Coming the other way around the tip of the island was a flotilla of Wash U boats. Their coach called out to alert us of their presence. C, who by virtue of his position in the boat is responsible for keeping us from crashing into things, said this to me: "I saw them, it was just unclear where they were going." Me to C: "isn't it always unclear where they are going?"

When I said that, I meant it literally. Coxswains tend to have trouble going straight, or following a shore, or finding a dock, or doing really anything that they are responsible for doing. So it would be unclear where they were going because wherever they were pointing their boats was probably not the place they needed to be pointed.

But, as we kept rowing along the shoreline, I kept thinking. (As anyone who has tried to engage in deep thought while you are also exerting yourself physically can tell you, this leads to philosophical questions that often seem brilliant at the time, but actually make no sense at all. Regardless....) Is it really clear where any of us are going? Even if we have a goal and think we know where we're going, how many of us really end up there in the end? I'm going to venture a guess and say probably not many. (Think, for example, about Dominique Browning. She was a high-powered editor at House & Garden magazine, until Conde Nast Publications decided to shut down that magazine and she lost her job and her focus. Talk about being unclear where you are going!)

Close readers of my blog will remember a previous post with a similar theme, as a result of a trip L and I took to the art museum. Clearly, I have not yet discovered the answer. I will need to keep rowing and pondering.