Directions

I am a firm believer in instincts that are bred into animals over a period of time. We once had a border collie that had never been anything but a pet. No one had worked with him or even slightly encouraged him to herd anything. However, that dog would perfectly herd my baby ducks every chance he got. Why? How did he know that was what he was supposed to do? Over generations of breeding the best herding dogs the instinct to herd was imprinted on their brain. They just know what to do.

My daughter lives in Iowa. It's a wonderful state. The land is fertile and it's flat. The people are open, friendly and great neighbors...and it's flat. It's a wonderful place for my grandchildren to grow up....and it's flat. Did I mention that it is flat? I live in Kentucky.....it's not flat. Oh, we have a few flat spots, but for the most part our land goes up and down. We have knobs (little mountains for you uninitiated), real mountains, and just plain hills. It's a beautiful place to live but we have developed a little differently from our friends in Iowa.

If you are getting directions in Iowa, you get DIRECTIONS. You will be told to go north for two miles, then go east for 1 mile. When you get to the spot you will be told to look on the north side of the barn that's through the west gate. Now at this point I am totally lost because I don't know where I am much less what direction north is. These people are born knowing what direction north is. You ask any child to point to the north and they will point as unerringly as a compass to true north. How do they do it?

When you get directions in Kentucky, you'll get landmarks. Go two miles until you get to the red barn with the old tractor out front and turn left at the next road. Go two more miles and turn right by the silver silo and continue until you pass the house with the blue shutters and red door. Why do we do this? Because in Kentucky you might wind around curves until you have gone north, east, south and west before you get where you are going. We don't know what direction we're going until we get there. Our directional gene has been bred out of us. You put me in Iowa and tell me to go north and I'm going to ask "is that right or left". The Iowans have had to learn directions because landmarks are scarce. Turn left at the intersection with the corn field on the corner, just won't help you much. All four corners may have a corn field on them. So their directional gene has developed to a high degree. Just like the dog, we have been bred to do what we need to do.

What this all means is that when I leave to take my grandaughter to town in Iowa they all wonder if I really will get there.