Bird Droppings March 22, 2012
Why do so many not pay attention while on the journey?

“Life is about the journey not the destination; we don’t know what tomorrow brings” Steven Tyler, Aerosmith, American Idol Judge

Every once in a while I get amazed, and as I was driving from point A to point B not too many days ago a song was playing in my son’s car and it happened to be the CD with that line in it. I meant to write down which song and forgot later he told me it is from the song Awesome. Perhaps a bit much borrowing continually from a rock star and American Idol Judge but the line is a great one.

“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating you.” George Bernard Shaw

We each get up in the morning and begin the day usually very similar to the day previous so for me just as always in the wee hours today my house was quiet. I stepped outside to listen and look at the stars and the temperature must have been just right because it felt rather warm yet no frogs or crickets broke my silence as I looked toward the stars. Everyone else is asleep when I sit thinking or walk about listening. One son is married and living in Florence South Carolina. He graduated from Georgia Tech and ended up as an environmental safety and health engineer. My oldest son finished his undergraduate degree at Piedmont College and while living at home is now working on his masters in Piedmont’s graduate school and my youngest son also at Piedmont lives in Demorest just off campus with his wife and my grandbaby. He was just accepted to Piedmont’s nursing school.
I recall a few summers back my youngest was at music camp for a week when my father passed away. My youngest son’s passion has been the blues harmonica and from what I have heard will be playing with some friends this weekend while he is home. They get together playing old southern rock and serious blues. Who knows maybe they will turn some folks on to some old Robert Johnson songs instead of the pop music so many teenagers listen to now a days.
I went by my mother’s house the other evening as I do many times a week sometimes to drop off digital photos for my mother’s hobby she is creating greeting cards from photos and artwork, except that I had forgotten them. Her cards use an image on the front and then she will write a poem or phrase to go inside. I went driving around months ago looking for a picture of a spider web one day for her and in the process took 60 other photos. One I had used as a screen saver for many weeks for my laptop of my oldest son’s salt water tank. It has been nearly a five years since he has had a reef tank, basically a salt water aquarium that simulates a coral reef, in miniature. The denizens are primarily colonial polyps and other invertebrates which from a few feet away look like lumps of rock in a very brightly lit tank. However when you get up close and the rocks have quarter inch creatures with tentacles waving in the current they are very much alive. One of the pictures I took was of a group of anemones that cluster together each only a quarter inch wide covering a piece of coral rock with what looks like hair till you look closely and it is tiny tentacles catching microscopic creatures in the water. A tiny mantis shrimp that hatched in the tank was swimming about and got his or her picture taken, each of them less than a sixteenth of an inch long. What is amazing is how much beauty is contained in a space so small.

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” Albert Schweitzer

So many people are not content and struggle looking for what may be right in front of them. It is our outlook and perception that are crucial to truly seeing and hearing in this reality. Daily I hear people complain about teaching how they do not like teaching or do not like working with children. I hold back and do not reply although maybe I should why do you keep teaching then do something else.

“How far is far, how high is high? We’ll never know until we try.” California special Olympics song

“Somehow I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secrets of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C s. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of all is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable.” Walt Disney

It is the entire journey, it is walking along seeing all there is to see, not missing that minute detail, or word and with conviction achieving your goals. No one can see what you see or hear what you hear only a vague proximity and only you will know when your goal is met. In 1953 Sir Edmund Hillary stepped to the top of the world on Mt. Everest 29,000 feet plus above sea level no one else had ever done that, now Nepal is a tourist trap with thousands coming through not all to climb but many to say they were there.
I heard from several friends lately through Facebook from so many years ago and one used the word new when describing those days from so long ago. I wrote to another friend this morning about how that was such a good word for back then so many things were brand new almost like opening presents. But today I just don’t rip off the paper and see the new toy I look at each minute detail. I try and listen far more carefully granted I am old and hearing is slightly going still better than most peoples. When I was younger I was rushing through life and things were new and so much to see like running through the park to simply say I have been there. I now stop and ponder and wonder about the details the pieces to the puzzle. No longer is it about getting done it is truly about the journey.

“You don’t have to be a fantastic hero to do certain things — to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals.” Sir Edmund Hillary

We all can achieve, we all can do great things, we all can overcome obstacles, it is confidence, constancy, courage and curiosity as Disney said. Keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts and to always give thanks.
namaste
bird