A couple of days ago I was doing one of my increasingly rare stints in school. The bell went and I learned first hand why that place has a one way system in the corridors.
I only knew one way to get to where I was meant to be headed next so I found myself battling against the tide. Edging gently in the wrong direction I made very slow progress. It helped that, with my teacher hat on, I was seen as someone in authority. They kinda had to let me pass.
As I was walking up the corridor the wrong way I saw several ‘real’ teachers (I get that a lot. “Are you a real teacher miss?”) stood in the doorways, waiting to catch pupils who might dare to try and go against the one-way system.
It was when I finally reached the end of a very long corridor that I noticed a fellow traveller walking behind me. I did all the hard work and thanks to that, she was able to travel the wrong way with relative ease.
And as is so often the case when I’m least expecting it, all this made me think about you, and me, and this game we like to call life.
Play by the rules. Study hard. Qualifications. Get a job. Get married. Do the right thing. Don’t push the boundaries. Toe the line.
And just in case you might dare to try, we have guards posted along the way, people ready to warn you, turn you around and squash you if you’re tempted to swim against the tide.
But you know what?
Sure, going against the norm can feel pretty lonely sometimes. There’ll be times when it’ll feel like you’re not moving at all. You’ll get some funny looks, a few raised eyebrows and people ready to acknowledge that perhaps you’d have got there quicker if you’d gone with the crowd.
But where is ‘there’ anyway? And how do you want to travel?
The Dash
I read of a man who stood to speak,
At the funeral of a Friend.
He referred to the dates on this tombstone,
From beginning ….to the end.
He noted that first, came his date of birth,
And spoke the following tears.
But he said what mattered most of all,
Was the dash in between those years.
For the dash represents,
All the time he spent alive on earth.
And how only those who loved him,
Know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own,
The cars, the house, the cash,
What matters most is how we live and love,
And how we spend our dash …
So think about this long and hard.
Are there things you’d like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough,
To consider what is true and real.
And always try to understand,
The way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more,
And love the people in our lives,
Like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile …
Remembering that this special dash,
Might only last a little while.
So when your eulogy is being read,
With your life’s actions to rehash
Would you be proud of the things they say
And how your spent your dash?
~ Linda Ellis
A famous old Welsh preacher once said, “A little faith will bring your soul to heaven; a great faith will bring heaven to earth.”
Life isn’t all about the ‘there’. The journey is important too.
Me? I’m done with following the crowd. It’s time to be a trail blazer. It’s time to push some boundaries and do your thing, regardless of what ‘they’ say.
Do it with confidence and pizazz and you’ll be like me wearing my teacher’s hat. Ooze authority and people can’t help but let you through.
And just like the lady who travelled easily in my wake, who’s to say who you might help along the journey?
