After the adult education graduation ceremony ended Saturday morning a bit after eleven o’clock, I headed out to Wheat State Winery. Not for the purpose of libation seeing it was not yet the sixth hour of the day. It was instead for the fifth annual fund-raising cross country run to benefit William Newton Hospital which is located in Winfield. That is the hospital at which Dr. Jeryl Fullen successfully repaired my left knee after I’d torn the meniscus back in September of 2015.

I thought the 5K run would be a chance to have a bit of fun and help out in a worthy effort. I knew I was going to be at least an hour-and-a-half late but was hoping they’d let me run anyway.

They did. Even though they’d already taken down the route signs and pulled all the staff off the course. After crossing the creek, I headed left as directed and up the hill. Before I got to the top of the ridge, I could see miles of pasture and hills, cropland and woodland. At the top, I could also see fields of winter wheat just starting to shift from green to gold and the curving lines of trees along the Walnut River bottoms.

I would have liked to taken in some longer looks but I didn’t want to tarry in any one spot and I’ve learned it’s best to keep a watchful eye on the trail when you’re running in a place like the Flint Hills.

Tripping over some stray stone in the path can bring a right unpleasant disruption to one’s gandering or gawking about. Although truth and beauty often cohabit together in rather pleasing ways, some days it seems best to choose one or the other. And when the path before you is neither level nor straight, as is often the case in this world, I recommend going with truth.

H. Arnett
5/23/17