When you ride on a float in the parade or march in a band, you probably only see a short piece of the parade or a few floats, those in front of you and those behind you. While you are waiting for the parade to start, if you have time, you may wander up and down the line of floats and marching bands, and see a few more a little farther ahead or behind your position in the parade. It is unlikely that you will see the beginning and end of the parade.
When you sit on the sidewalk and watched the parade pass by you, (not the same as passing you by.) you will get a “one-sided” view of most of the entries in the parade. Depending on how long you stay engaged, you will see more or less of the parade. If you plan ahead, as opposed to stumbling upon a parade by accident, you could see the beginning and the end. This requires a plan to dedicate some time to the event, show up on time, and stay until the end. You have to stay engaged by watching the parade and not miss parts of it. While texting or posting on your blog, or updating Facebook, or streaming a video to YouTube, you may be missing some interesting parts of the parade. Although sharing your life experience with others is a noble purpose. I really treasure the wisdom of learning from others mistakes because we will not live long enough to make them all ourselves.
There are other ways people choose to handle an event like a parade. Sometimes the best thing to do is to choose to do something else. You may have to plan your route around the “disturbance”. The parade may not represent a celebration, or day off of work for you! The nerve of some people to try to stop you from doing what you need to do! Your plan for a vacation could be away from the hustle and bustle of the parades and could be by a quiet lake spending the day fishing or skiing on the snow in the mountains.
How are you living the parade of your life, as a spectator, engaged as a participant, or trying everything you can to avoid it? Is your life filled with fireworks, and is that a good thing?
Where would you like to go today?
