Planet Sandtrap: Distractions and the Challenge of Living Purposefully

Photo by Justin Aikin on Unsplash

In the 90s Susie and I befriended a homeless man who became a friend for about ten years. It happened like this. Susie was doing pottery at the Duluth Depot at the time. The kiln for firing and the workspace designated for potters was located on the first floor. Just outside is where the train museum is located. 

There was a man named Robert who loved trains and did volunteer work there once a week. He was a big man, tall and somewhat overweight, unkempt but gentle. Often he would come into the pottery studio and sit there, sometimes engaging in conversation. Susie suggested that I take him to dinner sometime, that he was an especially insightful person and I might enjoy getting to know him. I went along with the idea, made a plan and we followed through. I had no idea this would develop into a ten year friendship with our family or that we would be at his side when he was unplugged on his deathbed at the hospital.

Robert lived in the Seaway Hotel at the time. Located in Duluth's West End it had a seedy reputation, but was affordable for down-and-outers. In that first hour together over dinner I discovered what an unusual and interesting man he was. 

We later began calling him Train Man because of the similarities between himself and the savant Dustin Hoffman played in Rain Man. We soon learned about his obsession with trains, that he had watched every single movie in the library and rated them on the accuracy and qality of their train scenes.

One of the observations he made in that first encounter, though, was how the Seaway was a microcosm of the culture at large. He called it Planet Sandtrap.

He proceeded to name the various traps there: drugs, booze, hookers, porn and gambling were preeminent. 

Do you have life goals that are being thwarted by your own sand traps? In golf, there are other hazards as well. Lakes and ponds, forests and trees can all interfere with your golf score. While golfing in Florida once I not only had my ball end up in a small pond, there was an alligator in there as well, two hazards in one.

Those who aspire to be the best they can be in any field of endeavor reach that height by avoiding sand traps and making other sacrifices as well. 

Even when you play your cards right, however, things don't always work out. As stated in Ecclesiastes 9:11, "I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all."

Nevertheless, if you have something to aspire to, you'll generally get much closer to your goal by avoiding the sand traps. You'll have higher self regard and fewer regrets as well.