Chasing or Fleeing?

Are We Chasing Happiness or Running From Something Behind Us?

The story is told of an old rabbi who visited a bustling town, and was nearly overwhelmed by the pace at which everyone was moving.. Everyone was running so quickly, not matter which direction they were going, so he assumed they must not all be running from something. He stopped a young man and asked him, “Why are you running?” and the man says “I’m running to make a living and find happiness”.

The rabbi stood looking up into the young man’s face for a moment, holding his arm. When the young man tried to politely release himself to continue his errand, the rabbi bade him wait just a minute. He looked into the young man’s eyes, and asked, “What makes you so sure that the living you need to make is in the direction you’re running? How can you be sure the happiness you’re seeking is running away from you, rather than trying to catch up with you? Maybe the living you seek is behind you waiting to catch you, along with the happiness you say you want.”

We’re all running. It’s the American way to be driven and ambitious and fast-paced. New Yorkers pride themselves in their frenetic pace.

I don’t think you can easily change the stripes on a Zebra. I am who I am, and you are who you are. Some combination of genetic and environmental factors shaped the person we have become. I do like to go fast often. I get joy out of being productive and out of making “progress” toward some goal.

While I can’t change these things about who I am, I certainly can force myself to stop and look around as I move through the life I’ve made for myself. I can force myself to look back behind me as well as up in front of me. I can continually ask the questions of myself:

What am I running from?

What am I running toward?

Are there some things that I’m running from that should catch me? Are there times that I need to rest and wait for happiness and “living” to catch up with me?

And the things that I chase – are they really staying so distantly in front of me, or is this my illusion? Am I continually running past some of these targets I’m chasing, not savoring the moment when I catch them, focusing my attention on the next target?

Prayer. Probably the best way to take that moment of reflection. Probably the best way to look behind, and to look ahead, and ask those hard questions.

Note: Story adapted from one told by Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of the British Commonwealth on a broadcast of an event on Krista Tippett’s “Being” radio show.