Operation Inspiration

I almost wrote a very scholarly column about Aristotelian philosophy and the Metaverse. Maybe I’ll get there some time, but for today, I decided to keep it simple, light, and dare I say, fluffy. Hopefully you won’t mind.

Many of you are aware that quite often, the inspiration for my writings comes from interactions or observations at the supermarket. But not this time! No sirree Bob! This one happened OUTSIDE the supermarket, in the parking lot.

Before we get to the details, do you know one thing I’ve learned from parking lots at shopping centers, malls, airports, and similar large venues? I’ve realized that even the most cynical, jaded, people have an innate optimism that causes them to think that they will get a parking spot close to the entrance. Instead of taking a spot at the far end of the lot, they will drive up to the door and then scour the lanes back and forth for a place to park.

That’s fantastic! They’re truly considering the possibility that luck will be on their side, fate will be smiling upon them, the Universe might be moving in their direction, that G-d is not toying with them, and they’ll find a spot close to the door. That’s already a positive. In fact, they not only try to get that prized spot, but they will drive around a couple of times looking for an open one. If they find a spot but they consider it a far one, they will circle back “one more time” on the outside chance that someone is going to pull out.

Well, there I was, heading to the supermarket, and looking for a parking space. The closest spaces to the door (not including the handicapped ones, of course) were taken, and I had to drive around. There was a spot open but it was pretty far from the store I wanted to enter.

Now, had this been a stadium or amusement park, I’d have been overjoyed to get a spot so close. If I only had to walk thirty spaces instead of three hundred it would be quite a coup. But this wasn’t an amusement park. It was a smaller parking lot, and the idea of having to walk “so far” was not on my wish list. Instead, I drove around the cars lined up at the front of the building and started heading back the other way on the next row.

And there it was: a spot was open and waiting for me right near the entrance, so I was parked head-to-head with the car in the spot closest to the door. I wish I could draw you a diagram to explain but let’s just say that the only thing between me and the entrance was the one car in front of me and the road I’d driven on.

At that moment, I had an epiphany. I’d wanted the closest spot. I’d basically gotten it, but I had to approach the problem of parking from a different angle, literally. So often in life, we think the solution is beyond us. That things will require much time, effort, and pain. Then, they don’t. Things end up being relatively painless, but we just didn’t get there the way we thought we would.

There is a concept in Chazal of “Derech arucha she’hee k’tzara,” the long path which is short. Sometimes, we think we’ve got a shortcut to where we want to go, but find the way littered with obstacles and barriers. We may take a path that is quicker, then find ourselves slogging through mud, while had we gone the longer way, we’d have found a paved path along which we’d have moved more quickly.

I found a close spot, but it required me to drive “out of my way.” Of course, it wasn’t really out of my way. It was the longer path which was actually shorter than the alternative. It was the better option for me and Hashem got me there.

The lesson I take away from this story is that we never really know what we’ll encounter on the road of life, so we never know if the detour we’re taking is not taking us out of way, but instead moving us closer to our goal even better than the other way would have. I remember driving on a highway that had express and local lanes. I took the express lanes, and a neighbor took the local lanes. Sure enough, the express had an accident on it and the “shortcut” made me get home half an hour later.

The best thing to do when we hit those obstacles is just to keep driving around with that optimism, knowing that Hashem can and frequently will surprise us. If we don’t get upset, we’ll eventually make it to our destinations, and hopefully we’ve been able to enjoy the ride.

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