The other night I was watching PBS and saw a show about the bridges of Pittsburgh.  As a kid there was a bridge between downtown and the North Side.  When I looked it up on Wikipedia, I found the following story:  The Fort Duquesne Bridge is a steel tied arch bridge that spans the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh. It was colloquially referred to as the Bridge to Nowhere because it was constructed from 1958-1963 by PennDOT, and never opened for traffic until October 17, 1969.

When we look at our own personal journeys, it is sometimes very interesting to trace the origins and destinations of our bridges; where they have been and where they could be or more importantly where they are actually taking us.  The journey always has a series of connectors, confluences, and mergers that were as unpredictable and unimaginable as could ever have been conceived. 

Sometimes those connectors were mentors; sometimes partners, sometimes friends, but more often than not, those people who have had the most influence on our progress and on moving us toward our goals have been people who did not like, support, or believe in our work, our mission, or our dreams. 

Many times, our inspiration came from the power of those people who were most passionately against us than from those who supported us. Bob Strauss in his e-How blog writes:  Like duels and opera hats, the concept of mortal enemies has fallen by the wayside in modern times, and more’s the pity. The fact is, everyone can use a good mortal enemy: there’s nothing like the possibility of being waylaid, fisticuff-ed, and tied to a railroad trestle to make a guy just glad to be alive.