a map of silent places

looking at a map of the world. many places i see in my mind, imagine what they look like. places i have never been but seen on photos, or places close enough to other places of which i know what they should look like. but looking at that same map, i see how many other places there are of which i can in no way form an image, only an approach to that image. for example, some peninsula on Nova Zembla north of Russia. of course, there will be snow, but what exactly would it look like? or those many small islands that constitute the fragmented shores of many parts of our world?

more places i have no idea of what they look like, than places i know or think i know. frustrating? no. i could probably make it frustrating, but that would not help me at all. in this life i will not have enough time to visit all the places i know, and will have even less time to visit the other places. i will not see the world, i will catch a glimpse of it. and even if i started walking today until my death, i would forget more than half of that same world. what was where and when was there... all unknown again. but what it can really mean, is the potential of places out there, inviting us. and even if we do not go to every invitation, the fact that at the end of our lives we can look back and think of all that other world out there, with its people and lives and happiness and sadness, is enough to be satisfied. satisfaction cannot come with wanting the world, satisfaction will come by loving the wealth this world has to offer, without tasting it all. that wealth is beauty, the unrealised potentials are roads not taken but are roads anyway. perhaps we should just be thankful for the many ways we can lead our lives, even if we follow only this one road from beginning to end.