The book I just bought was longing to be read so I took it up to the park to read it. The reason I had time to go to the park in the first place was because the work I had to do this evening was cancelled. I often like it when things get cancelled…mostly because of my laziness, but also because things getting cancelled causes me to actually think through what I am going to do with my time instead of flowing past moments and days.
Anyway, as I was leaving the park, I walked past a guy with a metal detector. I looked around for the beach and the other old guys with metal detectors, but neither were there. Now, because there was no sand around, I had to stop and study the situation. He was walking all around the park, through mothers chasing their children, past the flock of geese and flying frisbees, just following his plotted path to search the whole area.
I thought to myself, “I would never do that.” It just seemed like a goofy thing to be doing; walking around waving the metal detector over the freshly-cut grass. My eyes moved from the guy to my car door as I approached it.
As I went to turn on my car I looked up to see the guy bent over digging something out of the grass. Then I laughed and reminded myself how much of a judgmental goof I was.
Because even things that seem purposeless have rewards.
