Not all who wander are lost

I researched this line and found that it is used in various cases.  “Not All Who Wander Are Lost” may refer to:

·      Not All Who Wander Are Lost is a 2001 album by Chris Thile

·      “Not All Who Wander Are Lost” was a 2007 single of the album The Last Kind Words by an American groove metal band, Devildriver

·      Not All Who Wander Are Lost is also a line in a poem written by J.R.R Tolkien for The Lord of the Rings

Album names, song titles, lines in poems and a part of life.  But what does this specific little line, with so much meaning, suggest to me?

Societies of today are so set in their ways.  I am as well.  We need a stable, well-paying job.  We need financial security.  We need our own place to call home.  We need people we love around us ALL the time.  It’s who we are. 

There are exceptions though.  Those few people around the world who decide to wander the Earth.  They see, learn and experience so many things in life.  Things many of us will never experience or learn.  We perceive them as people running away from their responsibilities, scared to settle down, making any type of commitment or growing up. 

I am of the opinion that we perceive them wrongly.  People are individuals.  How boring would life be if we ALL settled for working from nine-to-five?  Society needs people like this, these “wanderers”, to keep life balanced.

I think it takes a lot of responsibility to wander throughout Mother Earth.  There is so much paperwork which needs to be 100% correct at all times.  I don’t think wanderers are scared to settle down.  They would be like a bird in a cage and it would just be wrong to keep them in one place for too long.  They do make a commitment.  These people travel throughout the whole Earth.  It is their mission.

I have to admit that I sometimes do envy them. 

Fact is, Not All Who Wander Are Lost.