On Roads
Posted on August 29, 2008
Filed Under Aphorisms |
Roads are our oldest artefacts. We create them instinctively, inadvertently, simply by going to and fro upon the earth and walking up and down on it. With every step, wherever we turn, we either find a road or make one. Roads don’t go anywhere, though. Once established, they remain fixed, stationary. We travel to Rome by the same routes as the ancient Romans, albeit by other transport modes. We can take high roads or low roads; those trampled flat from traffic or those tangled and overgrown. We can stick to the straight and narrow or go off the beaten track. Whichever way we choose, the only options are forward or back. If a map doesn’t show the place we want to go, we need a new road.
A version of this abbreviated essay appears in the October issue of Ode.
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First you are led to a road; later you discover one already there; then you make a new one.
Gridlock is a constipated Beltway.