See For Myself!

I went out on a spectacular Saturday morning mountain bike ride.  I was riding through the canyon, when someone going the other way said, “the trail is closed ahead”.  “Oh”, I said surprised.  I continued on about 10 more minutes when a man who works for the gas company stopped me and said the trail is closed ahead.  I said, “yeah, I heard but I want to see for myself.”

More riders rode past me telling me about the closure…”yeah, yeah” I said.  They were just being nice and trying to clue me in so I wouldn’t get there and be upset, but I just wanted to see it for myself.   I like to see things for myself and not just take everybody’s word for it.

That sounds like a smart philosophy, don’t you think?  If we all listened to everybody else telling us when to turn around and when to stop, we’d be living a life with no power at all and probably never even “go for” anything.

I rode the trail to the closure where the security guard said that would be the end of the ride.  I assured him that I knew all about it but I wanted to see it for myself.  He laughed and agreed that it made sense to him.

The funny thing is, I got a good 30 minutes more of a ride in after the first person told me about the closure.  Yes, I could have chosen to turn around and ride another trail nearby so that I could do a loop, but somehow I just wanted to get the full story for myself.  The security guard explained that the trail would be closed for about 2 more months.  Well, at least I know now, FOR MYSELF!  Instead of listening to the hearsay of everyone else, I got the firsthand story with my own ears.

That has been and will continue to be my way of life.  If someone tells me a movie sucks or a restaurant is awful, let me be the judge.  If a doctor tells someone with a serious injury, “don’t even bother trying to walk again”, do you think they should listen?

We are all different and we all get to choose.  Isn’t that the best news…we get to choose and we don’t have to take anyone’s word or opinion other than our own.

Today turned into a really gorgeous ride–even though it was cut short–there was something about it that was perfect.  I’ve never seen so many colorful moths and butterflys, it was a beautiful spring day and I got to decide for myself to see the end of the trail with my own eyes.

One more thing…you know the street signs that say “Not a Through Street”?  They aren’t always telling the truth.  You know how I know, I ride to the end and see for myself that there is a way through–they just don’t want you to know about it.  Sure, most of the time they tell the truth, but not always.  Ya just gotta go through it to get to it…and see for yourself!