The road to Hana

Itâ€™s not the destination that brings happiness, but the journey.
Socrates
469 BC – 399 BC

If you ever get a chance to visit the Hawaiian island of Maui, you’ll almost certainly hear about one of their most famous tourist attractions: the Road to Hana. But if you make the trip and walk around Hana, you’ll probably hear a few people making comments like, “What’s the big deal?” or “The view from my hotel is better than here.”

Those people arrive at Hana expecting their destination to be the main attraction. But the real reward is the journey there. The Road to Hana is a little over sixty miles of the most beautiful scenery on earth. There are over 600 sharp turns in the road as it winds through unspoiled forest. There are over fifty bridges, most of them one lane, that cross small streams spawned by beautiful waterfalls.

The trip is the attraction. It should be taken slowly, allowing enough time to absorb the natural beauty that surrounds you.

Unfortunately, we’ve become goal oriented; we’re always in a hurry to get to our destination, eager to reach the end of the journey.

So what’s the lesson here? I’m afraid that in life, we often forget that the journey is the attraction. There is no destination in life that we should be rushing toward. Most of us won’t suddenly arrive at a point in our lives where we can slow down and enjoy life. We need to learn to enjoy each and every day.

I’ve met too many people like the tourists who arrived at Hana and were disappointed. They failed to see the beauty of the journey; in their rush to get to some destination in life, they missed the pleasures along the way.

Life is not a destination. It’s a journey. Make sure you enjoy the journey; otherwise, the destination will probably disappoint you.

Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.
Jean-Luc Picard
Fictional Star Trek character