Rumble strips are a fabulous invention. There you are, tooling along, minding your own business, pursuing your errand, working your way from here to there, thinking about this and that, when suddenly BRRMMMM. The strips warn you of danger. The surprise and the shaking even more than the noise bring you back on course.
You didn't realize you were dozing, or daydreaming, or distracted. You didn't realize you were weaving, threatening to make a mess of your car, yourself, your life and perhaps those of many others. And yet with just a little jostling and a nudge on the wheel, you are back on track.
How cool, how convenient, how valuable if we could install rumble strips along the paths of our lives.
Sometimes they would help us make necessary changes: There we are, wending our way along life's path when, "BRRMMMM," we hear. " This relationship is not working for you." Or "BRRMMM, this is no longer the right job for you." Or "you are not eating right; living well; caring for self and others enough."
How can the strips tell? They know when we have lost our focus, and started veering into places we shouldn't go.
Sometimes they would keep us on the straight and narrow, reminding us that "there" is not where we ought to be; and "that" is not the thing we ought to do.
Still other times they would warn us to slow down, telling us that we are going too fast, reminding us that important things are coming up, slipping by, needing to be noticed.
The problem is, rumble strips are only put in places where others have gone before. And they don't stop us, they only warn us.
But when we go on our life's journey where no one has been before (or at least so we think), when we are blazing our own paths, there are no pre-laid rumble strips. And even when they are there, we may tend to ignore them.
That, it seems to me, is what Rosh Hashanah, and even more, Yom Kippur, are all about.
Yes, in part these holy days are to help us atone for the past. We need to do proper reckoning for our past.
But even more they are there for us to assess the present and map out our future. Are we on the right path? Are we heading in the right direction? Are we veering off or nodding off or rushing by?
The slight shaking we feel at this time of year, the sudden, forever surprising brrmmm of the shofar, are kindly reminders, saving reminders, that we are the drivers of our lives. It is we who choose our paths. It is we who often have to lay down the boundaries on the roads we travel when others have not already done so for us. It is we who need to mind the rumble strips we encounter as we barrel our merry way through life.
Listen to the rhythm of the road.
May your journey be long, safe and full of discovery.
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