The line between offering the protection of an angel and rushing in like a fool is a simply a matter of perspective. Of course, you are going in; you see the need and are determined to make a difference. Are you one of the few, the angels, willing to put some skin in the game or just one of the fools, someone naive enough to think that you can make a difference? Whether you believe it or not, ordinary people like you and I can and do make a difference every day.
Where Fools Rush In
There was more than a hint of burning wood in the air, the smoke that billowed from the water front could be visible for miles. It was a curious sight. Perfectly good ships were burning in the Gulf. And where was the owner of those ships? Beaming, standing on shore with a smile on face. He was now fully engaged with no exit strategy.
You have to respect a person for taking a stand and for making such a bold move when there was no way back and no clear definition of success. The story motivated him. The cries of the marginalized, terrorized and oppressed softened his heart; he felt compelled to serve. Was he one of the few, an angel, willing to put some skin in the game or just one of the foolish, someone naive enough to think that they can make a difference?
Do These Come in Orange
We all want options; running or cross trainer, walking or hiking, all laid out for us as if we were shopping for shoes at a Nike store. We want to choose what satisfies our needs as defined by a specific set of circumstances at a particular point. It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that it’s these choices that will shape our future and become the view finders by which we contextualize our past.
Most of all, we think that we have the right to go back. We expect the freedom that goes with refund because the shoes we selected don’t match our shorts as well as we thought they would. We expect a free 30-day trial period on a $19.00 software upgrade because we were not ready for that level of commitment. We like highways with off-ramps as opposed to toll roads where the options to change course are few and far between.
Mulligans For Sale
But there are more times than not, typically when the stakes are the highest, that we don’t get a do-over. We are expected to act as if our crystal ball works, the facts as presented are correct, those that offer advice and counsel have nothing but our best interests in mind. The 18th hole at the Augusta is not the place to find out that your caddy is on your opponent’s payroll selling mulligans.
There is no denying that the greater the opportunity for success, the greater the risk. To worry and fret is different from evaluating and planning. There is no need to spend hours obsessing over which flavor of Bryer’s we are going to buy when it’s all but certain that we will be back to that same cooler in a few days.
Angels in Topeka
Once we come to grips with the notion that we can’t predict the future, it becomes easier to accept where we landed as a result of our decisions of the past. Just because events didn’t unfold that way that we intended does not make us foolish, or the actions that we have taken any less redeemable. There is nothing inherently foolish about acting on our intuitions.
If we find that our travels take us through a field of corn instead of a grove of palm trees, it doesn’t mean that we are on the wrong road. It may just mean that the reality that we envisioned, the one that would lead us directly to Utopia, may, in fact, require a detour through Topeka.
Journey’s End
My advice to you, don’t be too quick to unpack all your belonging or change your mailing address. The smoke from those burning ships will soon lift, and your travels can resume. Don’t be caught off guard if the flight attendants announce over the intercom that it’s time to re-board the plane. Very soon you will hear from the pilot that you are no longer in Kansas and your destination is near.
Thanks for reading, liking, and sharing,
Ivy is thinks that a road trip is in her near future. She’s heard that the steaks are bigger in fly-over country.
Al and his faithful and carnivorous sideikick, Ivy the wonderpup.