40 in 40 Day #19

Day #19  I get lost. If I have been to a particular address several times I can still get lost driving there. I especially get lost as I return home. MapQuest was a help when it came out but often I still got lost. I have accepted this fact and for years depended on the kindness of strangers as I would stop and ask how to get where I wanted to go. People are very kind and I quickly learned that people will often tell you what they believe to be the correct directions, so you can be happy and not in a panic. Often, I was given incorrect directions and became lost and had to stop and ask again. My car has several maps. I like maps unless I am trying to determine where I am and where I am going. I do not like to unfold and try to refold maps and I truly detest those F2 or D3 attempts at showing you where you are or where your Dr. office may be hiding on the map.
What does my getting lost and not knowing directions have to do with making a difference? GPS. I was recently given a GPS as a gift. It may be the best gift I have ever been given. My husband and I attempt to never buy any product that has a manual. Our GPS came with a manual, so it sat on the dining room table for almost a month before we worked up our courage to have my husband set it up as operational. He claims it was easy to set up. It is a breeze to use! It has changed my life and I am guessing the lives of others such as myself who are directionally challenged.
I went to Answers.com and asked, "Who invented the GPS?" Here is the answer.
Roger Easton was a collaberating individual among a group of individuals including Ivan Getting, Colonel Brad Parkinson, James Buisson, Thomas McCaskill, Don Lynch, Charles A. Bartholomew and Randolph Zirn.

As is the case with many "inventions," there were numerous parallel efforts, and many committees involved. Approximately $12 billion was spent to develop the program, and along the way compromise was necessary to maintain funding controlled by politicians with an agenda.
Do you wonder what type of compromise and why? What type of agenda? Were there politicians who wanted their favorite restaurants included or a special language or did they want it named for their district or state? Did they want a "free" GPS for their car? Most people surveyed had no idea what type of agenda the politicians would have had.. Do you know? Do you have a theory? If you do, let me know.
My GPS is wonderful and I am in deep gratitude to those brilliant men,women and politicians who have made it available. A feature I especially love is the "recalculating" feature. Perhaps that was an agenda item. For those without a GPS, recalculating is what the non-judgmental voice says when you miss a turn or turn in the opposite direction of where you were directed to turn. I wish I could have have had that voice in my head, in that particular undramatic tone throughout my life. For example when I discovered my husband  (now ex) was "involved" with a friend, I could have said, "Recalculating." I could have said that word when I discovered where my teenagers really were, or when I found myself once again in a job I thought I wanted and really hated. Recalculating, said in a very non-dramatic, unjudgmental almost soothing way. Just get back on the path and continue in the correct direction. No need to sit on the side of the road and weep and scream and downgrade others, just, "Recalculating." That GPS, she is a very centered being.
I had the thought that perhaps God may be like my GPS. He/She sees where I am to go, gives me the directions to get there and then, I take a wrong turn. God does not leave or call me names. Just, "Recalculating." Somehow or somewhere I get back on the path that is my life and then there I go again, turning left not right, thinking I know the way or thinking maybe I am at my destination. I think if I were God (or a GPS) I might say, "Are you stupid!? I have given you this direction a dozen different ways and times and I am done, done, done with recalculating for you!" I would say that. Not God, not my GPS. They just stay right there with me, patiently saying, "Recalculating" and waiting for me to catch on. Is it weird to aspire to be like a GPS?
Action Taken: Listen and follow directions:)
To get a GPS go to a store or get great friends like Father Mike and Mary Ann. They will give you one.