"The Rear-View Mirror is a helpful Device..."

Friends:
The rear-view mirror is a helpful device ...

It has many practical uses, like improving one's attitude on departure from some hideous place ... and believe me, there's nothing quite like a view of Atlanta in your rear-view mirror. It's also pretty good for women who either forgot to apply makeup or who are sprucing up while driving carpool and talking on the cell. Perhaps it's most useful function is to warn us of approaching danger, like police who need to make their monthly financial quota. In high school, I found it particularly useful for keeping check on the back-seat activities in my car on Friday nights after the ball game, which were always suspect but very interesting.

Rear-view mirrors have metaphorical merit and application as well. Note: the rear-view mirror is always smaller than the car windshield, perhaps reminding us that the road ahead has more to offer than the one behind. And rear-view, backward glances are rarely instructive, only introspectively ... new life is always found on the horizon. But perhaps sometimes the backward glances are beneficial, because we often see time creeping ever closer with its constant reminder of "Do it now, Do it now." Satchel Paige, the baseball legend of another era, once remarked that he didn't look back because "somebody might be gaining on him." And we all know who that Someone is: The Grim Reaper!
Y
es, the rear-view mirror is a useful device ... may yours always reflect pleasant places and times with no regrets.


Bud
February 8, 2007