One Stumbling Step After Another

The path of living by our values seems deceptively simple. One principle after another. Just keep following them. I've memorized these truths for years, could recite every virtue and ideal, but yesterday, I stumbled.

A stranger (again) going slow on the left lane of the highway. My face flushed hot. Words formed that I'm embarrassed to repeat. In that moment, I forgot everything I claim to stand for. Kindness, tolerance, understanding, patience. The very values I write to you about daily. Simple truths you've known since childhood.

Later, when my breathing had slowed and shame had replaced anger, I asked myself: Why do I keep failing at what I already know?

And that's why I return to these principles day after day.

Because knowing the path is not the same as walking the path. Because values are muscles that atrophy without use. Because wisdom is a garden that withers without tending. Because principles are instruments that lose their tune without practice.

I don't write to teach you what you don't know. I write to remind us both of what we already know but struggle to live.

Wisdom without action is merely philosophy. Compassion without expression is just sentiment. Intention without effort is simply wishful thinking.

So while I kept driving, I reminded myself that the slow driver might be lost, or nervous, or simply unaware of the state laws. That my anger changed nothing about the traffic. That this stranger deserved the patience I'd want for my own mother driving in a new city. That my rage revealed more about my day than their driving.

Small practices. Simple returns to who we want to be. We walk this path together, one stumbling step after another.