Maps aren’t what they used to be. Trust me. Today’s maps have voices that tell us when to turn and when to turn around. They recite the miles. They let us know when we’ve gone off course. “Redirecting. Make the next legal U-turn.”
It wasn’t like this at all back in the day.
You see. I’ve always liked maps. Paper ones especially. The folded kind that never quite go back the way they were supposed to. And when you opened them, there was that kind of smell. Maybe it was faintly of ink with a little bit of dust and glove compartment thrown in. And of course, always the promise of possibility.
Maps promise something else. The promise of clarity. They say, Here is where you are. Here is where you might go. And here is how to get there. But anyone who has lived a little knows maps will sometimes lie a little bit. Or, at the very least, they simplify.
To look at a map, we can see that it will turn everything into those flat two dimensions. From mountains to valleys. Along with other variations here and there. But. Still. We trust them. We spread them out on tables, trace routes with our fingers, and inspect every detail of our destinations.
Old, old maps are especially wonderful. Sometimes there are sea monsters around the edges in unexplored waters. Blank spaces labeled with guesses and lots of hills drawn in. Every so often, there might be a warning scribbled into the margins. Old maps tried to tell about the unknown world. They reminded our people back then that “not knowing” has always been part of the deal. And back then, we humans never waited for certainty before setting out. Nothing was known.
Another thing I like about maps is that they are sort of optimistic. Maybe. I mean, they assume movement. They assume that we are going to make forward motion. They help us to believe that we are going somewhere. Even if we are currently lost.
They help us to keep going.
Maybe that’s the real gift of maps. Not that they show us the way perfectly, but that they encourage us to begin anyway. On those ways of seeking new things.
Paper. Digital. Who knows what the future will bring?
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“The journey matters as much as the destination.” — Paulo Coelho
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“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” — Lao Tzu
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“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” — Anaïs Nin
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“Sometimes the longest way around is the shortest way home.” — Irish proverb
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