training wheels

Remember Calvin and Hobbes? They were favorites of mine before the comic strip ended a few years ago. One had Calvin sitting on a swing -- just sitting there frame after frame. In the final block he's bellowing, "Somebody give me a push!"

The other day I spotted a dad walking with his young son, who probably wasn't even two years old. The toddler was in a stroller that had him in a hot wheels-style car seat, little legs pumping furiously on the pedals while his father held the handle in the rear. When Dad let go the entire operation halted and I watched him lean over to encourage his pint-size Mario Andretti to keep pedaling. He didn't, of course, and nothing moved. So it remained up to Dad to keep pushing, supplying the pedal-power that drove his little boy's legs like tiny pistons, and they cruised away together.

It made me think of how we all start out: needing someone when we're small to teach us how to navigate the world. If they do a good job, we are eventually able to do it -- making our way under our own steam. Like Calvin, some days we want someone to give us boost, but as he also learned, most days it's up to us. That's life.

On those days, however, when I'm pedaling as fast as I can and seem to be getting nowhere, I could envy that little guy who can still count on his back-up to keep him going. On the other hand, perhaps I simply need to remember that sometimes it's okay -- even wise -- to coast.