Shortcut to Nowhere

There’s a stretch of dirt road out behind our place that’s been there since before the county ever thought about paving anything. It winds through trees and brush, dips down through a dry wash, and comes back up again in a lazy curve that always seems to eat more dust than it gives up.

Folks around here call it “Short Cut Road,” but that’s a lie if I ever heard one. It’s rougher, longer, and more likely to rattle the fillings right out of your head than the main route.

I learned that lesson the hard way. Years ago, I was running late to town, can’t even recall why, but it seemed important at the time.

I figured I’d save myself ten minutes by taking that so-called shortcut. About halfway through, my old pickup hit a rut deep enough to hide a hippo.

The back tire blew, and I ended up walking the rest of the way in a pair of boots not meant for long distances. By the time I got to town, whatever it was I was hurrying for didn’t matter anymore.

That’s when it dawned on me, life’s a lot like that road. People often rush to get somewhere that they start looking for ways to shave time, effort, or patience.

Maybe it’s skipping a step on a job, or fibbing a little on a resume, or trying to climb a ladder faster by stepping on somebody else’s rung. It might get you a little further down the road for a while, but sooner or later, that corner you cut catches up with you, usually with a flat tire and a long walk home.

I’ve seen it play out with neighbors, too. My Hank tried to save money building his barn by using green lumber instead of seasoned wood.

He got it up in record time, struttin’ proud like a rooster on Sunday morning. Then one summer later, the boards twisted, nails popped, and the roof sagged like an old mule’s back, and it took him twice as long and three times the money to fix it right.

The truth is, anything worth doing in this life, work, love, faith, or friendship takes the long way ‘round, because there ain’t no shortcuts that hold up under weather and wear. The best things we build are the ones we take our time on, where we sweat a little and square the corners.

Nowadays, I stick to the main route. It might take longer, but I get where I’m going in one piece.

And if there’s a lesson in that, it’s this: slow down, do it right, and don’t trust any road that promises an easy way out, because more often than not, a shortcut’s just a long detour waiting to happen.