Month: October 2023

Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Lewis Carroll’s work, Alice in Wonderland. Alice in Wonderland is available for free download from Project Gutenberg here.

“The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.

“Cheshire Puss,” she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. “Come, it’s pleased so far,” thought Alice, and she went on. “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where——” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“—— so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

Note: Have you ever thought to yourself, “I wonder what I’ll do when I grow up?” Or, “I wonder where all this is going?” We can be parallelized by those thoughts believing we need certitude before we commit ourselves. The Cheshire cat offers us some sage advice, if we start walking and continue walking, we’ll get somewhere. By worrying less about where we want to go and putting our energy into constructive action, we’ll get somewhere, and we will be pleasantly surprised at where we end up. Something good will happen because we decided to get off the sofa and start walking.