On To The Future! (Whoa, Hang On A Second.)

Last week I took a trip to Poway to meet up with a friend of mine.
We had decided that she would be picking me up from CVS and so at the accorded time, I was there, sitting on the base of one of the pillars in front of the store waiting to be picked up.

It was a nice day, the sun was out, there was a nice breeze so I wouldn't get too hot sitting under the sun.

But I digress, the point of this blog is about the two things I observed.

The first thing I noticed is that apparently many elderly people quite love to shop there. However after further consideration I remembered that CVS contains a pharmacy.
Meaning, old folks go there to get their medicine.

So, I am sitting there occasionally answering IMs on my phone idly watching old people walk slowly to and from the store when my eye fell upon an elderly gentleman getting into the driver's side of a vehicle. I thought nothing of it; what is there to think besides "Look at that man getting into the car. He must be about to drive away."

Anyways, I'm sitting watching as the car begins to back out very slowly in that way that elderly folks have, roll back a bit, pause, crane neck, roll back a bit more, pause...etc.
All of a sudden another vehicle comes through the parking lot much too fast.
Thankfully she noticed the car pulling out and stopped before she hit him. The driver, a woman in her forties or so, looked frustrated and said "Are you gonna pull out or what." in the kind of tone that said "You're in my way."

The man pulled out and they both went on their way.

That is an overview of what I saw. Now I am going to delve deeper into the situation.

The first thing I bring to you is the woman driving the car.

She was in a hurry (obviously) but the thing I noticed right before she almost hit the elderly man's car was this; she was looking at where she wanted to be, not at where she was going. Therefore she failed to see what was in the path before her.
She was looking to the future; not at the present. Her eyes were literally looking at what was around the corner and not what was right in front of her eyes.

In life, looking at where we want to be or what we wish for the future is not a bad thing to do. However when looking to the future blinds us to the present then it becomes something that is detrimental to our lives.
It causes us to pass over the things that are before us, we miss things that need to be noticed. If we look too much to the future it may cause the things of our present to begin to fall apart. Then we look at the shambles of our lives and wonder what happened.

The second thing I bring to you is after she noticed the car and braked to avoid the collision.

She said (and I quote once more)"Are you gonna pull out or what."
First of all, we need to respect the elderly, I am sure you all know this. They can't move as fast as we do, their motor skills are not what they were. So they need a little extra consideration from the rest of us. She had to wait all of fifteen seconds before she could continue on her way. Folks, fifteen seconds is not too much time out of your day.

Second of all; focusing only on the future causes us to be inconsiderate. As I said before; we miss what is right in front of us. Things we should notice, people who need our attention...the list goes on.
Some of us spend so much time tearing into our futures that we destroy any chance we have of achieving that future because we are so oblivious to our present.

I suppose I'd like to leave you with this:
Stop and take the time to focus on the present; you'll be the better for it.



DISCLAIMER:
I am not saying that looking into the future is bad, only that some of us do it too often and it becomes a problem. It obscures what is with what will be or what we wish will be.
There is always a place for looking into the future so dream on folks.
But take the time to see what is in front of you as well.