Searching for the Pathmakers

Some are mystified by ancient wonders such as the pyramids, Stonehenge, Bob Barker. Others find their curiosity cravings crunched with natural phenomenon’s such as lunar eclipses, the northern lights, Chuck Norris.

I, on the other hand, am fascinated with the natural wonders which walk among us all. The brave men and women who honor the legacy of Ponce De Leon, Magellan, and that overrated asshole Christopher Columbus. Do not be fooled, brave explorers still exist to this day, and I am going to take a moment and honor these heroes.

I'm never going to forget the moment. It was 7:30 am on a January morning, it had to close to 0 degrees and the ground was blanketed with a fresh foot of snow. I was a sophomore at The Peddie School and faced the long, long walk to the Casperson Science Center to attend class with Donald "Iron Chef" Mott.

I had two options, I could walk on the roads which eventually lead to the science building, for these roads were paved, or I could walk across the snow covered fields.

Being the lazy, 16-year-old Peddie student that was solely motivated to attend class to avoid a date with Melanie Clements, I trekked across the snow. It was this moment I discovered a race of human beings that forever changed my outlook on life.

As I came to the field, I had second thoughts on diving into the snow...and then I saw it. There was a path. There was a path in the snow; a path that I could have sworn must have been created by a higher being.

Who would walk across this field? Who would be the first person to do this? There were no signs of hesitation, whoever started this path said "I'm walking across this field" and they never looked back.

This must be an abnormality I thought; surely this was just some crazy kid from Potter who had taken a few too many oxycodones.

Perhaps Jose "Ice it" Roca needed some snow for his ice palace in the training room.

Or even a swimmer, hell they are nutcases.


...I was wrong.


As more and more snow fell as the winter progressed, more and more paths were created. I actually had options on which route to take to class. It was a sophisticated highway structure that I will swear to this day could handle the traffic of Manhattan.

The Pathmakers are all around us.

They are your jocks, your nerds, your cheerleaders.

They are your techies, your hippies, your slackers and bookwarms.

They are the reason people like me get to class every winter morning.

I salute you, mystery pathmakers.