The Point of Departure
January 1, 1970
When we find ourselves on a wrong road, our first reaction is to look back and try to think at what point we departed from the right road. But sometimes we may have gone a long way before we are fully aware that we have left the right road. Sometimes changes come so gradually that we may not always be aware of how far we have gone; for example, we may not always know when it was that we acquired a habit, but we pretty well know when we have a habit. We cannot always be sure, from first symptoms, when a man will become a drunkard, but we pretty well know when a man is a drunkard. In the first phases of the process, people may not always be aware of how fast ore how far they are losing their freedom. But if they continue, there comes a time when they know they have lost their freedom. Many things come as step at a time by willingly going the wrong way. And while the first step may not seem to suggest serious consequences, it is always serious to depart from principle. And in looking back we shall find that t6he first step, the first time, the first point of departure is the critical point – for second steps have a way of following first steps. In some resects it may be compared t a person who climbs a precarious cliff. Each handhold or foothold is not a stopping place, but only a momentary place to pause. But when one looks back at some point, it is apparent how hazardously he has come and how far he is from safe footing. Or it may be like the man who lets himself down into a deep hole on a rope – a rope that is just a little short; and so he lets loose and drops down. But having let loose, he may find it difficult or impossible to reach the rope again. Any point of departure from principle is a critical point – for the first step leads to the second, and further steps follow. And no matter how easy it is, a journey on the wrong road just doesn’t arrive at the right end – not until we get back on the right road.