Old & New

My MP3 player was blasting music through earphones as I return to my cruise speed after slowing for Waharoa. The old Honda that I was bringing back from Tauranga doesn't have an AUX plug for these modern fan dangled devices. It doesn't have cruise control or nifty paddles on the steering wheel to change gears or a digital speedo. Lost after 3 years is the new car smell, it now has one of those car airfreshener smells . A smell that you know is hiding a potentially more potent odour, the way lighting a match in the toilet tries to hide a foul stench.

My foot moves slightly to adjust the manual cruise control and keep me at target speed when I hear over the music that my cellphone is ringing. A friend of mine has decided that I am sufficiently old and grey enough to ask about what I would do differently if I look back 10 – 15 years. He is really asking what would I do differently to become a better more balanced person, hmm. The first words out of my mouth were that I don't have regrets, just lessons, and that I would not be the person I am today if I hadn't done all the things I have done. It is probable I wouldn't be running Agoge, and I believe that our whole lives to date are preparation for this moment.

I have started to reflect on the question and will in time find some profound and deep words of encouragement, then wax lyrically about stories from my twenties. In the meantime I think everyone should go to Costa Rica. Now for those of you are ignorant and don't know much about this Central American country it has a population of 4.2 m (slightly bigger than NZ), 50,660 sq kilometres of land (20% the size of NZ), a GDP of $8949 (a 1/3 that of NZ) and the capital city is San Jose. They speak Spanish and 90% of the population is Roman Catholic.

All this new found awareness comes about because I was chatting to Jasmine yesterday and she said she would love to travel there. I nodded and smiled trying to look and act like a boss that had a clue. I was kind of sure Costa Rica was in Central America and I knew they spoke Spanish but that was it, save for the knowledge that Miss (Mrs) Costa Rica was accidentally given the crown for Miss World rather than the winner Miss Russia and I'm clueless why I would know that!

My face looked as blank as a clear screensaver, mind on nothing happening, so I did what I do best and asked another question. This morning I goggled Costa Rica. Maybe we should take a team of people from Agoge there? kind of like a school camp.

If I had my time again I might of travelled and sojourned more, but that would have been to the detriment of what I have already become. The new model cars are better than the old ones because the designers are looking for continual improvement. In the end we all need to understand that what we are now, is because of what the old models of us were, because of all the experiences we have had and all the choices we have made. If we continue to learn from the old model, the new model will be better.