The Dairy Gate

LIFE FROM THE DAIRY GATE

While leaning on that gate and looking west in the summer evenings, one got the distinct feeling that the sunset wasn't supplied by the cheapest possible quote! It was so easy to take a sight that was the same every night, yet different, for granted.

Country sunsets are relaxing - the time to "wind down" after the day's hectic activity and "take in" the conquering coolness of the night while doing the things you enjoy - sharing with family members, water the garden, a cup of camp-fire tea or hug the dog. The evening includes those last minute chores that have to be done before night fills the day. One also tends to ponder the trials of life and the mysteries of that inner self that no-one has completely explained.

Why are we here? What are we supposed to do?

And now its all turned round. The dairy gate seems such an unobtainable goal. Although the years give us so much achievement, it seems to be so little. Suddenly, many realise there is a confusing and complex issue to our lives. It's best described as three lists; the things you have in your life; the things you want; and the things you need! The further the deviation between these accounts, the more the unrest. It is a cruel quirk of Nature that magnitude of the deviation takes a little time to reveal itself... and just as you think you have it all sorted out, some mid-life crisis looms making it all a little dynamic.

All of us have a streak of "prodigal" in our make up. This is a perceived, glaring difference between the "things you want" and the "things you have" accounts. While maturing, our "things we want" account is very large. We also believe this account the one and same account as "things you need". Even the latest Ferrari is fully justified. It is only during our late twenties that we perceive a growing difference between materialism and its lack of relationship to the richness of life. Arbitrary possessions for a happy life can be few. The rest are a bonus!

Beginning one's life through the passage of capitalism, the motor vehicle usually is the first major item, followed by a long, never-ending list of material possessions one just "has to have". The young persons' view, justifies all his/her possessions as necessities to have a happy life - the more the better! You know what you want and you set out to achieve it. Few succeed, and some, when about to make the final grasp, observe there goal closely, only to find that it wasn't what they wanted at all. Some say the achievers are the successful ones. In business circles they will certainly do well, but what of the people that reject their final goal. What made them change their mind? Are they insecure, idealist, disillusioned or just plain confused?

The picture of myself at the dairy gate is classical. We all have a "dairy gate" We all question what path gives happiness. Sometimes, we even wonder, what happiness is! One of the answers is to make sure our home has a "dairy gate" on which to lean and ponder while looking at the sunset.

Sunset at Springton Diary Gate

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