Gene's Blog

Two More From Steve

One of these from Steve Goodier’s Life Support newsletter, the second, has a funny in it that I’ve seen before, but which is still relevant. When we look at our children we make assumptions, about what they are thinking, seeing, being. And, as that little story points out we can be quite wrong. 11 years ago on the 11th of this month, I saw the culmination of wrong assumptions come to an end as my youngest son left this earthly plane. I don’t fear for his soul, I know he is fine, but I am still, in my own way, reliving that day. I’ll be past it come the 12th, and ready to do something else within a few days of that. Thinking about that now. And since I’ve never read Don Quixote, I’m going to do that next week too. Much love, :^) gene

WHAT WE SEE

A long time ago a baby was born to poor parents. His future looked
bleak as he grew to see a life of dreariness and poverty before him.
He joined the army as a common soldier and was wounded so severely
that he never regained the use of his left arm.

He later failed to find decent employment and, on two occasions, was
sent to debtor’s prison. He continued to have brushes with the law and
struggled just to survive.

But, despite the severity of his life, he never let go of his
dream…to write a book. He wrote that book and in it he told a
beautiful story which welled from his heart’s deepest dreams and
yearnings. It has moved generations of people the world over ever
since. It is about a man who saw the world differently than everyone
else. Though created in suffering, the book is an inspiring tale of
irrepressible hope. This man’s story has been put to music and film,
translated into numerous languages and remains a literary classic
after some 400 years. The author was Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and
the book is Don Quixote De La Mancha.

Perhaps Cervantes himself believed, as did his character, that the
world “sees people as they are — I see them as they can be!” For
Cervantes may never have accomplished such a magnificent work had he
not seen some potential within himself that was hidden from the rest
of the world. He knew, and has taught others ever since, that great
truth: What we see will come to be.

Some see situations as they are, others as they can be. Some see
people as they are, others as they can be. And some see themselves as
they are, others as they can be.
But when we look beyond the present reality, dismal as it may seem,
and set our sights upon the best that is within a situation or a human
being, then, too, what we see will come to be. And we’ll know the
power of hope.

LOOKING THROUGH THE WRONG END OF A TELESCOPE

On the way to preschool, the doctor had left her stethoscope on
the car seat, and her little girl picked it up and began playing
with it.

“Be still, my heart,” thought the doctor, “my daughter wants to
follow in my footsteps!”

Then the child spoke into the instrument, “Welcome to McDonald’s.
May I take your order?”

Among the many lessons we can learn from children is the lesson
about how to have fun. And for most children, fun is spelled
F-A-N-T-A-S- Y. Their worlds of make believe are places of
excitement and joy.

Writer Dr. Seuss said this about fantasy: “I like nonsense; it
wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in
living; it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a
telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at
life’s realities.”

One man spoke for too many of us when he said, “The prospect of a
long day at the beach makes me panic. There is no harder work I
can think of than taking myself off to somewhere pleasant, where
I am forced to stay for hours and ‘have fun.'” Are fun and
fantasy part of your life, or is having fun just another fantasy?

What might happen if you decided to look at life through the
wrong end of a telescope? What if you asked yourself “What if?”
instead of “What now?” And how can you put more “fun” into your
daily “functions”?

Wake up those brain cells! They’ll thank you years from now.

— Steve Goodier