In an episode of the original Law and Order, Executive ADA Jack McCoy has a conversation with a defense attorney he is up against.  She pulls up to him in a limo just after having dinner at a swanky restaurant.  After discussing the case, she asks him why he just doesn’t join her in defense work where he would be paid handsomely.  Gesturing at her limo, she says all this is waiting for him.  McCoy, a career public servant, replies “No thanks, I made peace with my path a long time ago” before riding off on his motorcycle.

Path to me is interesting.  Issues of free will and predestination aside, I find it fascinating to see how lives turn out and are influenced by seemingly random or unconnected events.  The example of the butterfly effect in chaos theory is one such example where the flapping of a butterfly’s wings can cause a momentous event thousands of miles away.  In my life, some of the events that had the most impact seemed small at the time (the unsolicited letter, the chance meeting at the library, the decision to not eat dinner at home).

Like the fictional McCoy, I realize making peace with the path is so important yet so difficult.  One of my favorite authors makes this point about path – If you marry one girl, you forsake the rest.  When I look at my own path, it wasn’t easy both by fate and choice.  I definitely wish some parts were smoother, but strangely, some of the times I was most alone and where the future was uncertain were the fondest.

A friend mused on why some paths are harder than others.  Not to downplay the very real pain and challenges, but sometimes it’s the difficult journeys that yield more beauty and knowledge, even if it’s costly and doesn’t seem like it at the time.