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SELF PRESERVED
Tuesday Apr. 12, 2016
We take steps. Baby steps, large leaps – we do it all day, we do it in our sleep, but taking steps to make anything in our lives go ‘our way’ remains far from assured. Stepping down, stepping aside, stepping back – seems like ‘going backward’ by another name. I don’t care for that.
A step forward is not a step up, but it could be. A step in any direction is movement from a stationary position – which seems like a good idea. Keeps you moving, keeps body and brain busy …
Stepping up is a bolder step, filled with drive, enthusiasm and vigor. Not always, but it ought to be.
I read my paper this morning and found many examples of troubled lives which make my troubles barely troubles at all. Life seems to be reducible to taking steps, or avoiding them, in pursuit of improvement of our human condition. Disasters of all kinds are risks – all the time for so many.
Personal disasters are saddest of all, because they are tiny and not cared about much. Sad stories on so many pages – make my difficulties almost non-existent by comparison. They aren’t. But in terms of scale, they don’t matter much to anyone else and would never trouble the world or make it tremble. That scale is reserved these days for dams and damn fools, tyrants and terrorists, evil doers and mean spirited people in high places.
Everybody takes their own steps.
Most have tiny consequences nobody knows or understands.
Taking steps, however small, get us somewhere different – hopefully better, hopefully away from rather than toward disasters.
Take steps, but watch your step.
Mark Kolke
P.S.: Strange feeling today. Going to court to learn my dog’s fate. Seems like a strange, completely surreal life … fearing worst, hoping for best – hopeful, but concerned I might have to find her a new home in a hurry.
written / published from Calgary, AB
morning walk: 1C/34F, clear, stars, breeze – Gusta caught the strong scent of something that she wanted to follow, we took a middle-of-night stroll through unfamiliar corners of the neighbourhood, finding nothing obvious (I suspect it was a coyote because, if it is deer, we usually see one or more); and given the day it will be today I thought it fair to let her determine where we went ...
Reader feedback:
BALANCING THINGS
good one Mark. How true this is. I’m sure this will resonate with a lot folks, especially for those of us where the years are passing all too quickly. Keep up the good work. I look forward to your article every morning, JKE, Kelowna, BC …. P.S.: Wow; that was a quick response. We have moved but I’m not retired. I hate that word. Sounds to me like I was tired once before and now I’m tired again. I like to think of my existence now as “having re-engineered my lifestyle”. There is more than enough to keep me as active as I want to be (sometimes taking on too much) with volunteer work, some project management, recreating, and being a Grandpa. I still have mixed emotions because at times, I miss the high intensity of the work and the people relationships I was able to enjoy during my career. But, feel fortunate to be where I am now. Many before us never got to this point and then it’s over. I see you have not slowed down at all and seem to be ramping up at times. Your writings are such an inspiration to so many of us that follow your musings; we hope they never stop. I personally wish you the very best as we continue down this trail of life. Seems like you are having fun. Best regards, JKE
well written! … yes, before the term existed, did the condition? Call it balance, call it work-life or whatever term you like — the key is to be at peace with your choices. Single/divorced/widowed folks don’t have this problem so much, because there isn’t someone prevailing upon them to use their time differently. I can’t imagine Dr. Einstein breaking away from his work to go golfing with friends or to spend an afternoon parenting children. We want high achievement and we want textbook happiness — or so we are told at every turn. The construct of balance is rooted in math, not in happiness. Do what makes you happy, spend time doing what drives you to happiness. Be your own critic, likely your harshest, on that subject and ignore everyone else, MB, Seattle, Wash.
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