Depending on what you selected as your fashion statement for the day, most of you probably leaned over…. and mindlessly…. tied your shoes. Unless of course, you went with the Light Brown Penny Loafer and the Docker’s Khaki Slacks. In that case, you just slipped into things.
But back to the tying of the shoe. There was a time in your life when it required a great deal of thought. In fact, just before that, you did not know how to tie a shoe at all. So you learned. Bunny ear over bunny ear. And these days… you tie those shoes without a second thought.
And that is what we do our entire lives. We learn things. We don’t show up in the delivery room with an instruction manual under our arms. Nope. On the contrary, the moment we emerge from that womb, we take a smart slap on the booty. They say it is to get us breathing. This too… is something we need help with when we are starting out. We learn.
At some point in my life, I figured out how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I found out how a power drill works. I learned how to operate a computer, and discovered the basics of Physics. And, Softball. Juggling. Drawing. Driving. Chicken Whispering. World Champion Ice Sculpting. High speed rock climbing. You know…. besides the power drill, most of these things are second nature to me now.
But there are so many other things we learn. Nothing about our lives stays status quo. We are in a constant condition of change. There are times when it is very easy and the change feels great. Like winning three games of Bingo in a row, or getting the big promotion down at the Dairy Barn . And then there are times when we seem to take a hit. The roof starts to leak, or our stocks drop 8 points, or someone we love falls ill.
Life as we know it changes. Sometimes in very subtle ways, and on other occasions… like an ground-shaking Earthquake.
As much as we don’t like to hear when things aren’t going well… we are on a journey. I love the analogy of the early explorers getting in their boats and heading out on the ocean. They thought they would sail right off the edge of the earth, at that line of the horizon. Flat earth, and all.
But instead, they kept sailing. And the edge continued to stay out of reach. And they experienced a journey. Those crystal blue waters. Whale sightings and beautiful sunsets. The weather would get choppy, but the waves would subside. And then eventually, they would find the new world. The new life.
The learning.
They found that the bunny ear, over bunny ear…. really works. And before you know it, they were tying their shoes. Like the salesmen at the Florsheim Store.
Yep.
We live. And we learn.
“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” ― Albert Einstein
“We are all failures- at least the best of us are.” ― J.M. Barrie