We rejected the values of our parents and went our own way. We do not race for the glory of breaking the finish line ribbon first. We find a preferred triumph in the greater knowledge of ourselves. Yet, though we hike the same trail, youth and age do not tread in the same footsteps. Youth speed along laughing, stumbling and, invading the homeland of nature's free creatures, and we rarely see them.
Youth notice little, hurrying to the next waterhole, landmark, or campsite.
I enjoy the shafts of sunshine that pierce the leafy canopy and fuel the delicate photosynthesis of the wildflowers that spring up in the ponds of sun rays. They step on the fragile pedals. I step between. They do not see the colors, I see the full flora palette. They worry about where they are going.