One foot forward, day by day,
Holding on in the simplest way.
Not reaching high, not falling low,
Just keeping pace, steady and slow.
Breathing in. Breathing out,
A quiet life without the shout.
Some call it aimless, drifting through,
But getting by is brave and true.
This morning, and for a host of reasons, I’m considering those who don’t know how to get by in life. They don’t live within their means, or life has gotten so complicated they have no clue how to adjust. Life is on the ragged edge. One misstep and all comes crumbling down.
I’ve been slowly re-reading “Texas” by James Michener. The current section of the book deals with life during the time of the Independence of Texas… You know. The Alamo. I’m on page 450 of 1,438 pages…
The world of “Texas” has been huge, just like many other facets of the nation. Spain ruled from Mexico City, and a family traveling between San Antonio and the capital would take nearly nine months. From there, give it another half a year and you could sail to Spain. That’s a long way from the roots of Mexico and the land of Texas.
Can you imagine the emmigrants struggles? Corruption within the law, religious leaders, and local inhabitants created opportunities and results none expected to be considered normal.
Texas dives into all those who flooded into Texas to take advantage of open land, run from a past they did not want to live with, or were simply wanderers looking for a better place.
Why did people come? What was their old life like? What were they planning on doing in the new world? The word that describes this part of the story is anomie. The person sharing this part of the book is helping a committee analyze not only the past of the players, but also what they did once they arrived.
“The construct that clears away many of the seeming contradictions is anomie, and I’m pleased that members of your staff provided the definition they did. It’s quite accurate. Anomie is the emotional state of mind we are apt to fall into when we are wrenched away from familiar surroundings and thrown into perplexing new ones. The two key words for me are disorientation at first, followed by alienation if it continues long enough. “I assure you, Mr. Quimper, I have no opinion whatever as to whether our great-great-grandfathers were criminals or rowdies or gentlemen scholars. All I’m concerned with is: ‘How did they behave? What did they actually do?’
Michener, James A.. Texas: A Novel (p. 447). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
When we are faced with a new life, whether of our own choosing, or following the past of least resistance, or dealing with the struggles of something we don’t know what to do about, the key word in the book is animoie. How do we behave? What do we actually do?
While I cannot always guess your state of mind and understand your actions and reactions, I do know me.
How Do I Behave? What Do I Actually Do?
This past week of vacating, yes, vacation, put several situations in front of me and had I been by myself, or around a different audience, I might have reacted differently than I did.
Catch my drift. We often act one way in the presence of others, and a different way when we are by ourselves. Though we are never alone (I believe God is with me all the time), I know that the audience often dictates my response and action. That includes the thoughts I think and the words I say.
I’m no different than anyone else. Sometimes the first reaction is the true gut reaction to the moment. Surprise, and though seldom shocked by life, I often let my best be hidden and the worst revealed.
Given a few minutes, hours or even days, I adjust my reaction to the reality of the moment. Acknowledging my initial behavior, I often have to walk back from the outburst and deal with the truth of the moment.
I wish I could attribute my personality to someone more positive than my past. When working in IT, and supporting production systems that dealt with other people’s money, or when developing systesm that did the same thing, I learned how to react to failures. In fact, we had to develop recovery procedures for every point of processing so we can back up a step after something has been repaired, and then try, try, try, again…
These words and steps often defines me in these moments.
Go dark.
Think it through.
Analyze all the pieces.
Develop a strategy to move forward.
Make a plan.
Take action.
Verify results.
Satisfied? Good! Not? Adjust.
When the first thought, word, or deed is negative, one must learn how to go dark, think it through, analyze the pieces, develop a strategy to move forward, make a plan, take action, and verify the results. If satisfied, then all is good. If not, you may have to adjust and re-do!
Thank you for reading.
Please share with others.
It helps me get my book written!
(Below, you may find other topics similar to this one. Please read on!)