I once had a book about a wise Jewish baker who dispensed pearls of wisdom. I can't remember the title of the book, and neither can I find it; it might have been given away. I remember only two things from it: that it said people build walls around themselves, then at some point if they're lucky they realize what they've done to themselves and so spend the rest of their lives tearing down the walls that took most of their lives to build. The second thing was that when people see the true path, they follow it; but those who then notice the former don't see the path - they just follow the coat tails of those before them. Much later, never having seen the truth at all, they belittle the coat tails they had been following, and give up. They might even punish the owners of those coat tails, for leading them on a "wild goose chase."

I guess it's a given that we to an individual do not like to look foolish. But life is awkwardness; as per Robert Fulghum (who is one of my favorite authors by the way), life is lumpy. Let's not deny our basic humanity - we all are insecure, sometimes immature, sometimes selfish, sometimes way out of our depth. If we can just tear down those walls, we'll be so much less lonely. The view will be better.

And for all our sakes, let's all be kind to one another. Especially to those who seem to see something other than coat tails.