TREES HAVE MANY RINGS
Friday Dec. 19, 2014
This is a column, not unlike every day – not a disguised birthday greeting for someone who celebrates today – but it could be.
Every day we do something.
It might be one thing.
Might be a hundred.
We try to make it work, make it succeed, make it live up to our expectations.
From which … we learn nothing much, aside from ‘this is hard’.
Every day when we try something we are afraid of, every day when we challenge something we fear – then we have a chance to conquer it, a chance to succeed for the first time, a chance to put our fear of starting behind us, freeing up time to challenge the next thing, and the next.
Some call that learning.
Some call it learning to live without fear.
Some call it failing often, succeeding sometimes, failing more – and I think that is where the best growth is.
Yes, this is hard.
Yes, this is good.
Good, and hard, seem to go well together. Like grime and sweat. Grunting and groaning. We need to work hard, play hard, try hard until one day we will die hard – but we won’t fade away without having left our impression, our indentation, on life’s landscape.
We do things that last a minute, or that last a thousand years.
Making our way through life is not for the purpose of becoming an old fossil, but more about helping others. There is no better work. There is no better reward.
We are not getting old or slowing down – we are just getting warmed up.
Some people have a hard life.
Oh well … lucky us!
Mark Kolke
P.S.: some people were born in ’68. Some remember ’68. Some are 68.
column written/ published from Calgary, AB
morning walk: -6C/21F, frosty quiet and calm, Gusta ambling, traffic humming – and my mind very busy (early start, lots of caffeine) as inspiration spins in my belly …
Reader feedback:
Hug, MO, Monterey, CA
Thank you Mark. Very well written and a wonderful reminder of our many blessings! Thank you for sharing with all of us. Merry Christmas!, DA, Houston, Tx.
