Forward, not Backward

Photo by Christopher Michel

Talk to anyone who is in the vineyard this time of the year and they'll tell you. It's not about planting, not at this time, and it's not about pruning. It's about waiting and looking and praying and picking. And moving forward.

Seems however there are plenty out there who want to leave things the way they are, or if not, complain about how unfair things are. The grapes aren’t listening. They are getting riper. Time to pick.

Years and years ago, so long ago it seems like another lifetime, a teacher of mine drilled into my skull the idea that the future was not going to be the way my parents had envisioned. So I had better start thinking about the way the future might shape up in my life. He recommended a book, Future Shock. That book stirred inside me the possibilities that nothing was going to be like I had or could imagine. And I had very well better get over myself. Sure enough, the author was right.

Photo of Anna by Brent Pearson

Thomas Friedman said something today in his piece in the N.Y. Times about that author. Friedman quotes Toffler, saying “In the future ‘illiteracy will not be defined by those who cannot read and write, but by those who cannot learn and relearn.’”

Look, whether you’re 26 or 46 or 66, in these times if you’re looking back, you’re going to have a hard time moving forward. And that means for Italians tied to their “traditions” as well as Americans who just can’t seem to wrestle control from those in power. You don’t like it? Too bad. We’re moving forward. Drinking the ‘12’s, not the ‘62’s

Think you live in an oppressive state? Is it where you live or is it all in your head? Try the latter first. Solve that and where you live won’t matter as much. Forget your personal history, unlatch yourself from the notion that things around you are out of control. Of course they are. We are hurtling through space at an unbelievable speed, clinging to this little rock and you want it all to be neat and tidy so you can get your wine to market? Text your Creator and see what kind of response you get. You can’t find the orange wine you had in Sicily and you think it’s because some corporate conspiracy? Get out of MCML and into MMXII before the curtain drops.

Photo by Stuart L. Chambers

I told a chap a year ago who just wouldn’t take no for an answer his friend's Aglianico probably wouldn’t stand a chance of making headway in America in the next 18 months. He went ahead anyway. Made a pretty penny. Started with a dollar. Sure, he didn’t listen; he moved forward with his passion.

You don’t like the way wine moves from Italy to America? Put your money on the line, make something happen. Move it forward.

You think natural wines are the next big thing? Put it on the line, put yourself out there, bring ‘em in, hit the streets, get your hands dirty. Move forward.

What’s an alternative? You can sit around and gripe about it. Blog about how unfair things are, go ahead, see how well you can juke your stats by being whiny.

Photo by Alexander Norman

Or you can just make stuff up, steer away from truth and just wing it. While you’re at it, why not run for office? Take off the gloves and enter the ring. Maybe go into government work and change the laws to suit yourself. Rewrite history while you’re at it. Make 2008 go away. While you’re at it, make 2001 disappear as well.

One thing discovered early on: from life forms on earth heading into the future this path might be lonely, it might be unpopular, but it will never let you down. That’s the door we all face every moment.

Sure, one can stay behind, fake it, phone it in, post from the archives, climb down the rabbit hole. No one will really mind. Why? Because we’re all too busy moving forward at unbelievable speeds to notice. Go on; linger behind with the dust in the cosmic wind, flotsam from poorly hatched schemes. Of course all that dust could cloud one’s the path.

Problem is, if you stir it up and spin too much, you could end up heading back to where you started. But then it could be lonely back in the past, and you couldn’t enjoy the newest wines that are coming forward from the vineyards as we live and breathe.

Come on, get on…

Photo by Brent Pearson

written by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy

All photos from Burning Man 2012

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