Years of Hard Work, This Is What I Get?

Vacation was a relaxing experience. I walked to a parking lot close to our stopping point one evening. Touted as the “star gazing” place, people gathered as the sun went down. Since it’s me we’re talking about, I wandered through the woods, snapping photos of the surrounding landscape. Then, a trail opened, and I meandered, constantly on the lookout for deer, rattlesnakes, and wild cats. After about 45 minutes, I ended my walk and strolled into the house just in time for dinner.

What caught my attention?

Here, the cedar-type trees (locally called Mountain Cedars but in reality are Ashe Junipers) are low to the ground. No more than thirty feet tall. A few have sturdy trunks, but most are twisted with branches broken low to the ground. Gnarled comes to mind. Underfoot are cacti, uncomfortable rocks smaller than my shoes, and amazingly soft soil during the fall. Recent rain may have been the culprit. A taller tree shows up every so often, but most are less than a dozen feet.

Why are they so twisted? Does the bark have to peel off as it does? Look at their neighbor, standing tall. Some are lucky, and some are not. Maybe. It could be the luck of the draw, or it could be what is missing. Other trees could have been the weather blocker, or some drought season caused them to twist and turn. More than likely, it was only a storm. One storm after the other!

This Makes Me Think

Of course, this makes me think. We all age differently than others around us—even our siblings, parents, and spouses. Please don’t compare yourself to your children because we always hope they are better than us! Live long enough, and you become a figment of your younger self. Take the blows of life, and you’ll either stand firm or fall to the ground.

DNA, genetics, and environments are part of our identity. Along with accidents, diseases, and habits. Sometimes we reflect on our inside person, and other times we mask who we are by looking different from our minds. Tall. Short. Big. Small. Strong. Weak. Fast. Slow. All descriptors we give ourselves and how others see us.

But it’s what you do about who you are that gives me pause this morning.

How do you see yourself? How do you like others to see when they look your way? Often we are mimicking some style found on a big screen or from something we’ve read. Or, we look at our past and replicate a theme from some younger era.

This is life, and Life Happens To All.

Hmmm… Sounds something like what Solomon would say!

I returned and saw under the sun that—
The race is not to the swift,
Nor the battle to the strong,
Nor bread to the wise,
Nor riches to men of understanding,
Nor favor to men of skill;
But time and chance happen to them all.
For man also does not know his time:
Like fish taken in a cruel net,
Like birds caught in a snare,
So the sons of men are snared in an evil time,
When it falls suddenly upon them.
Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 NKJV

We eventually reach those elder years and are nothing like what we could be due to Life. In our voice, mannerisms, or even in our gaze, who we were shows up. Could it be that this is our true self, not the image we present to others?

Younger, we sought to find our style and voice. Older, we struggle with presenting who we want ourselves to become. Caught between two worlds, we are a twisted reality.

This Pandemic Has Revealed Much About Who We Are

Every person grows to become who they are. True. But you can control the impacts of life, right? Bad habits set the stage and desires we do not know how to manage. Traits may skip a generation, and you wonder why life blessed you with DNA you did not want. I’m thinking about baldness, bad teeth, and other health-related issues.

Challenged to become better, we often follow a path, not of our desire. We want to be who we want to be no matter what others think about who we have become. Different? Yes. Better? Time will tell. Is the true “you” revealing itself, or will you let the times define who you become?

Perhaps it’s related to the season of life and how we deal with the challenges. As I came of age, Viet Nam passed off the scene, but if you look back to the ’60s, you find how people changed en masse. Life challenged every aspect – hair, clothes, music, drugs, cars, relationships, religion, and careers. (A never-ending list!) Was this due to the war? No. But the war did not help the times. It was during the same season that we went to the Moon!

We adapted and moved on.

Some of the best changes from my growing-up years have become synonymous with sedate elevator music of the day. We absorbed the challenges and moved on.

Every portion of our generation produced life-altering changes. We adapt and move on.

I’m Ready To Move On

I’m looking for an adaptation to this pandemic, but I am ready to move on. I feel like I did not reach retiring years to end up like I am. This season shows me how much we’ve kept repressed. And, how we have allowed this season to alter our reality.

Yet, look at what this century has given us—significant challenges on every front.

Something really big happened in the world’s wiring in the last decade, but it was obscured by the financial crisis and post-9/11. We went from a connected world to a hyperconnected world. I’m always struck that Facebook, Twitter, 4G, iPhones, iPads, ubiquitous wireless and Web-enabled cellphones, the cloud, Big Data, cellphone apps, and Skype did not exist or were in their infancy a decade ago.
~Thomas Friedman

Skipping the “science and data,” I’m ready for life to return to a new level of normality. Will it include masks? Probably for years to come. New vaccinations? Every year. Will some make it and leave others by the roadside? Yes. That’s life.

Will we leave people behind? We already do. This is life, and many are left behind as we move forward.

Does it have to be this way? No. Not everyone will move of their own volition so they will be left behind. How about you and me? It’s a twisted season, but we can be better. Adaptation is often the key. While we are changing and being challenged, let’s remember it could be ourselves left behind.