Let's Hew You

Thelma Houston asked this very question in song in 1973. Diana Ross followed a mere two years afterwards in 1975. Perhaps these two singers asked the question that I’ve been asking myself for the longest while: ‘Do you know where you’re going to?’ After all, my birth year falls in the middle of those two years. Maybe Thelma announced the question that would dog me for most of my life to now; Diana agreed in song. But, I digress.

Do you know where you’re going to?

The song opens with the striking questions: ‘Do you know where you’re going to? Do you like the things that life is showing you? Where are you going to? Do you know?

Friends, would it stun you that I can comfortably say, ‘No I don’t know’? Would it surprise you that after all this time, I’m still not sure? Sure, I have a general idea of where I would like to go, but do I know exactly where I’m going? Or, do I know exactly how I’m going to get there? Do I know the precise steps involved? Quite candidly and simply, the answer is, ‘No’. Quite frankly, the answer is an unapologetic ‘No’. No, I don’t know exactly where I’m going. I do know, however, broadly, where I’m going to and that is what makes the difference.

Four years ago, if you had asked me that question, I would have panicked at the thought of not having a definitive response. Prior to this 4-year stint in the University of Life, uncertainty and the unknown were areas that sent uncomfortable shivers down my spine.

I now revel in the unknown. I now am comfortable in it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t necessarily choose to stay here, but I realise that I can’t do anything about the unknown. My assurance is this: the unknown doesn’t last forever and, with each step I take during this period, I am one step closer to fulfilling my purpose, and that is known. My commitment is this: ‘forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,I press on towards the goal for the prize’.

Now that prize is a prize I’m thrilled about and one that more than compensates for the unknown.

What do I do during the unknown? Leave that unknown for the time being. Besides, that’s another story, for another time.

See you soon! Hasta luego! A la prochaine!