Detours

Turkish delight.  Yummmm.  Actually, Turkish delight has never really been my thing.  There are many things I would want before Turkish delight.
I just mention it because I was thinking about The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.  Edmund loved Turkish delight.   The thing was, after the witch gave him some, it was all he wanted.  He was going to get it, no matter what.
I can relate to single-mindedly wanting something.  We were on a bus tour of Fraser Island.  Fairdikum, I am unsure if the driver really wanted to be doing it.  I have never been driven so fast over bumpy, sandy, rocky tracks.  We were regularly leaving our seats so we could be closer to the roof.  On the trip he mentioned drumsticks.
From then on, all I wanted was a drumstick.  A drumstick took on mythical proportions. Forget anything healthy, or good, it was a drumstick or nothing.  Often I just want what I want.
Drugs were a bit like that for me.  There is no denying there were good times, but the cost was huge.  Besides being illegal, it meant abandoning everything I stood for, and betraying friends and family.  It amazes me how the rubbish that goes with something can be overlooked, in the desire to repeat a positive.
I imagine alcoholics experience similar.  The drink becomes the goal, the ideal.  The self-neglect is ignored.  The hurting of others is disregarded.  The abuse of family is discounted.  The poverty of those for whom they may have responsibility is discounted.  Despite the cost, the drink is the goal.
I am older and wiser now.  Well for sure I am older.  If I am wiser could be legitimately debated.  I definitely feel I have learned my lesson.  That road was for me a detour.  Although it is over 20 years ago wishing I had not taken it is a moot point (not a moo point, which is what a cow thinks).
We were driving from Brisbane, north, using the coastal road.  On the map there was a place called Turkey Beach.  We so should have taken notice of the name.  All we saw was “beach.”  We felt it was definitely worth an explore.
Going to Turkey Beach was a detour.  At first it was bitumen and then it became gravel.  It took us ages and was really not worth it.  On the way back something happened to the car, and we needed it fixed.  Fortunately for us, a business was open and there were guys just standing there.  It was like they were waiting for us.  They fixed it in no time.
The thing for me was, it was a detour, and all was not as it seemed.  Did I have to take the detour?  No.  Did I learn from the detour?  Yes.  I have found with most detours though, I have needed to retrace my steps when I have gone there.  I have had to join the main road where I left it. At the very least it has taken time.
Something that makes me wiser, is not necessarily the best or only way for me to learn it.  I guess it is a live and learn thing.  As they say, “onwards and upwards!”