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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

LIVING IN THE RUTS

Decades of living with a steep, hard-to-maintain road have shown me  
that most people stay in the ruts. A steep road with a single driving  
path becomes a very rough road as rain runs down the ruts and makes  
gullies. I have suggested, advised, asked, begged, pleaded, and  
cajoled visitors to please drive to one side or another, anywhere but  
the common path. Drive where no wheel tracks are visible. Drive to  
pack down loose dirt. Please don’t drive in the ruts. They nod  
agreeably and leave. When next I go onto the road I can see that they  
drove in the ruts.

I have placed obstacles in the ruts, sizable stones. Reminders.  
Drivers veer around the stones and back into the ruts. The road is  
four-tenths of a mile long and placing stones close together in two  
wheel ruts is beyond reasonable time use.

Driving in the ruts requires the least amount of thinking. Some people  
lead lives in the same way. They see what others are doing and do the  
same. Sometime late in their lives they may ask themselves the classic  
question: is that all there is? Well, no, there is much more. To find  
it requires getting out of the ruts.

Cutting corners is another example of insufficient mental engagement.  
A friend recently came for an extended stay. He drove down the  
driveway, probably in the ruts, across the elevated crossing, and  
turned to drive across the stream at the near end. The water there is  
perhaps three inches deep. Having thought about the water feature  
challenge for a couple thousand miles, he focused on getting across  
without becoming bogged down. That focus got his pickup through the  
water just fine but it darn near tipped his travel trailer, because he  
cut the corner and the trailer wheel dropped into a hole.

Now this is a man who during part of his formative years lived on a  
farm. Farm boys learn about the consequences of cutting corners.  
Gateposts are a common victim and tipped loads of hay bales are  
another. I myself, at age sixteen, was told to stay on the tractor  
while three old men reloaded the wagon I had just abruptly unloaded by  
turning too tight uphill. Fifty-six years later I still remember the  
face burn.

To cut corners and to drive and live in the ruts requires the least  
amount of thinking. It also pays the least rewards. So, engage that  
power in your head. Davy Crockett said, “Be sure you’re right, then go  
ahead.” I’ve played with putting the emphasis on different words in  
that admonition. For today, I will emphasize the word, “then.” Better  
to pause before proceeding than to drop into a hole.