Back in the early 1990’s I read a self-help book (Do It!) for people who needed help pursuing and achieving their goals. In the first or second chapter the author used an example that spoke to me, so much I still fall back on it. Simply stated, take small (even tiny) steps that move you toward reaching your goal. Every grand journey begins with a single step. Every day is a new day and you keep taking that first step from where you are at that moment, day after day, again and again. With relentless persistence one keeps moving in that direction (tiny steps) until the necessary knowledge and skills have been mastered. The one, absolute, unforgiving rule is: never compromise that tiny step, every day, for as long as ti takes.
The example he used was for aspiring writers (like me). I had been keeping a journal for twenty years and I identified with the challenge in that regard. An idiom attributed to Confucius tells us, wherever you may be, there you are: and the quest begins using the knowledge and skills you already possess. So we all begin with tiny steps, in the right direction and never give up. You don’t need a computer or a typewriter. You don’t need to take a class. If your goal is to be published and you have no experience in that discipline you can begin at the beginning, with a pencil and a piece of paper. Someday, all of those small steps will translate into knowledge and skills and you will need a computer. That relentless journey of tiny steps will (can) take you places you never imagined.
Nowadays I am comfortable identifying as a writer. I have fair command of colons and semicolons, use run-on sentences when it servers a purpose, my spelling and grammar are adequate. Some words I like and use more than others but the vocabulary has expanded and continues to grow. Writing can be self serving or for other’s consumption, it is what it is. Yes, I am a writer. I am also a storyteller and an educator. Think of it as a blessing or a curse but once fixed in the scheme, it doesn’t expire or evaporate. So I still tell Story, still share my experience and understanding and then I write about it.
The book, DO IT! was a good read and over the years I have taken its best idea and committed it to both memory and practice. But it begs more questions than answers. I’ve tinkered with so many different projects, toyed with dead end ideas there is no way to do all of it. But the writing has never been reduced to nothing more than, something I used to do.
I recently came across the phrase, “. . . making strange bedfellows.” It is so well worn I should be more familiar with it. Sounds like something Shakespeare would say; “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows” it is by Shakespeare! The Tempest, (Act 2). I had to look it up but will remember it for at least a little while. Over time it has become a metaphor; to engage in an unusual or unlikely affiliation, usually in politics, government, war, etc. It runs close parallel with, “My enemy’s enemy is my friend.” If I try to unfold that riddle it comes full circle with Israel and Gaza. I didn’t set out to land on this square but here I am. I’d be afraid to fall asleep, worried who would be in my bed with me when I wake up. I’ve been derailed to a dreadful thought. Hamas is a mirror reflection of the Talaban, second verse - same as the first. Then there is Israel, their leaders have reinvented Nazi strategy to create a 21st century holocaust. In both cases, the preferred action is to kill your enemies, kill them all. Then kill their children before they can grow up and seek that self righteous ‘Eye for an eye.” Kill them all, God is on our side. I don’t want any part of waking up in that bed. Where is the voice of reason: Gandhi gave us, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” I get upset just knowing and it wears me out.
Here I’ve gone and started a good idea and it has turned on me in a cruel way. I’m sure someone famous or wise has left an appropriate quote but I don’t know who. The book DO IT! doesn’t dig in this hole. Certainly we hope for a share of good health, to love and be loved and a safe place to sleep. It was 1978, Kenny Rogers wrote and sang THE GAMBLER; the lyrics are relevant here as he brings it home. “. . . every hand’s a winner, and every hand’s a loser, and the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.” I can wait on dying in my sleep just don’t be sneaking in no strange bedfellows. I’m sorry; I’ll try to be more positive, more forgiving next time.
The example he used was for aspiring writers (like me). I had been keeping a journal for twenty years and I identified with the challenge in that regard. An idiom attributed to Confucius tells us, wherever you may be, there you are: and the quest begins using the knowledge and skills you already possess. So we all begin with tiny steps, in the right direction and never give up. You don’t need a computer or a typewriter. You don’t need to take a class. If your goal is to be published and you have no experience in that discipline you can begin at the beginning, with a pencil and a piece of paper. Someday, all of those small steps will translate into knowledge and skills and you will need a computer. That relentless journey of tiny steps will (can) take you places you never imagined.
Nowadays I am comfortable identifying as a writer. I have fair command of colons and semicolons, use run-on sentences when it servers a purpose, my spelling and grammar are adequate. Some words I like and use more than others but the vocabulary has expanded and continues to grow. Writing can be self serving or for other’s consumption, it is what it is. Yes, I am a writer. I am also a storyteller and an educator. Think of it as a blessing or a curse but once fixed in the scheme, it doesn’t expire or evaporate. So I still tell Story, still share my experience and understanding and then I write about it.
The book, DO IT! was a good read and over the years I have taken its best idea and committed it to both memory and practice. But it begs more questions than answers. I’ve tinkered with so many different projects, toyed with dead end ideas there is no way to do all of it. But the writing has never been reduced to nothing more than, something I used to do.
I recently came across the phrase, “. . . making strange bedfellows.” It is so well worn I should be more familiar with it. Sounds like something Shakespeare would say; “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows” it is by Shakespeare! The Tempest, (Act 2). I had to look it up but will remember it for at least a little while. Over time it has become a metaphor; to engage in an unusual or unlikely affiliation, usually in politics, government, war, etc. It runs close parallel with, “My enemy’s enemy is my friend.” If I try to unfold that riddle it comes full circle with Israel and Gaza. I didn’t set out to land on this square but here I am. I’d be afraid to fall asleep, worried who would be in my bed with me when I wake up. I’ve been derailed to a dreadful thought. Hamas is a mirror reflection of the Talaban, second verse - same as the first. Then there is Israel, their leaders have reinvented Nazi strategy to create a 21st century holocaust. In both cases, the preferred action is to kill your enemies, kill them all. Then kill their children before they can grow up and seek that self righteous ‘Eye for an eye.” Kill them all, God is on our side. I don’t want any part of waking up in that bed. Where is the voice of reason: Gandhi gave us, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” I get upset just knowing and it wears me out.
Here I’ve gone and started a good idea and it has turned on me in a cruel way. I’m sure someone famous or wise has left an appropriate quote but I don’t know who. The book DO IT! doesn’t dig in this hole. Certainly we hope for a share of good health, to love and be loved and a safe place to sleep. It was 1978, Kenny Rogers wrote and sang THE GAMBLER; the lyrics are relevant here as he brings it home. “. . . every hand’s a winner, and every hand’s a loser, and the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.” I can wait on dying in my sleep just don’t be sneaking in no strange bedfellows. I’m sorry; I’ll try to be more positive, more forgiving next time.
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