“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise.  Seek what they sought.”

— Matsuo Basho

What is is that you seek as you journey through life?  Are you walking your own path, or are you stepping in the footprints left by someone else?  What is important?  Is it the exact route we follow, or is it the way we walk?  I think back to my childhood and days after fresh snowfall.  We would pull out the sled and wax the runners in preparation for trip after trip down the hill in our front yard.  My father would pull on his huge rubber boots; and in topcoat and fedora, he would sit behind one or the other of us on the sled and ride a time or two.  My feet were tiny and my legs were short, and it wasn’t long before my own boots were packed full of snow.  When Dad was there, I would stretch my strides to place my feet in the marks that his left in the snow.  It was easier that way to keep from becoming bogged down by the weight of the icy slush that would melt inside my boots.  I needed his footprints in order to extend the enjoyment of the trips up and down the hill.

That’s how it is when we are children.  When we are learning to walk, it is helpful to have someone experienced come along with us — a hand to hold or footprints to use as we learn to keep our balance.  As we grow and mature, our strides become stronger.  Our legs become long enough to walk through the snow or mud without being stuck.  As our confidence grows, we are able to move beyond the footprints that once marked the way for us.

It is tempting to stick to what is marked, to what we know, to the places we have traveled before.  We can feel disloyal when we veer off from the marked path and into unexplored territories, places with no footprints to guide us.  Fear would tell us that there is danger beyond the last footprint; and we might feel more secure retracing the path again and again, walking up and down the same familiar hill.  Love tells us that this was our learning, our training for a longer journey that would grow out of the confidence instilled by the ones who let us shadow their own walks and step on the ground that they first tested to assure that we would be safe.

No parent should hope to hold his child captive in his own footprints.  No teacher should hope to keep his student bound by his own limitations.  Remember the sense of adventure you felt when you followed those footprints.  Remember the excitement you experienced when you felt the passion that was shared with you by those who went before you.  Take up the adventure and let the passion be your own.  Veer off from the footprints in the snow and make your own trail.  Beyond the hill you love so well, there may be one that is even more magnificent.  Mark the path that nobody else has taken.  You never know who might want to step in the marks you leave.