Slow down

I just got off of a shift at Potbelly, and I am admittedly exhausted. My brain is fried. Zap. Gone. Regardless, somehow there's a spark of something in there that has driven me to the writing of this post. I'm so interested by the way people interact. There are so many different kinds of people, that it's hard to know how someone is going to react when you talk to them. That's one of the joys of customer service. You find out. Pretty fast. ;)

"Hi, how are you?"

No nonsense eyes skim over me and the person says briskly, "Good."

I don't understand people who rush through life. They always have places to be and no matter where they are, they need to be somewhere else. Since I have my voice back now (the crowd cheers), it is easy to get busy talking and rushing around and having a grand old time, but sometimes it is good to just sit and be quiet and think. A quiet moment can take one places. I remember when I was little I just loved to steal my brothers toy cars and move them around on a little board. When I see pictures of my little blond, tousled head bent in fierce concentration over those cars, it takes me back to those moments when I found absolute bliss in a simple thing. Memories are good, but sometimes it's just good to be where you are. You guys ever seen a couple on a date, and one of them is always on the cell phone? I always wonder why the person isn't with the person he/she came with. If he's always on the phone, and always acting like he wants to be somewhere else, then what's the point of going out on the date? That's just my simple mind at work, though.

There's this one poem by John Donne I'm going to post here. It's a little hard to read, but it is so powerful when you 'get it'.

Stand still, and I will read to thee
A lecture, love, in love's philosophy.
These three hours that we have spent,
Walking here, two shadows went
Along with us, which we ourselves produc'd.
But, now the sun is just above our head,
We do those shadows tread,
And to brave clearness all things are reduc'd.
So whilst our infant loves did grow,
Disguises did, and shadows, flow
From us, and our cares; but now 'tis not so.
That love has not attain'd the high'st degree,
Which is still diligent lest others see.

Except our loves at this noon stay,
We shall new shadows make the other way.
As the first were made to blind
Others, these which come behind
Will work upon ourselves, and blind our eyes.
If our loves faint, and westwardly decline,
To me thou, falsely, thine,
And I to thee mine actions shall disguise.
The morning shadows wear away,
But these grow longer all the day;
But oh, love's day is short, if love decay.
Love is a growing, or full constant light,
And his first minute, after noon, is night.

I picture a couple walking through life. They weather the seasons, and the good times and the bad. They grow stronger together and grow closer. As they first start out on their walk together, their shadows are in front of them (? this part I was unclear on) and those shadows blind others who see them. But when the sun is above them, everything becomes clearer. There are no shadows and they are totally in tune with each other. As the sun sets, their shadows fall behind and they are blind to their own image. That just seemed so powerful to me. I don't know why, but if you think deeply on it one can draw their own wickedly powerful analogy.

Enjoy the moment. One never truly enjoys the spontaneity of life if one is constantly banking ones' life on plans. What's that saying? If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans. At first I thought that made God sound pretty heartless, but then I realized that is absolutely how I ought to live my life. I should live out what is handed to me. I'm learning more and more that there is a bigger picture that I have only seen through a small hole straight before me. A birds' eye view is certainly not the kind of perspective I want to rely on. Some movie I watched (I think it was 'Dan in Real Life' - an excellent realistic 'slow down' movie) ended with 'Teach your kids how to plan, yes, but more importantly teach your kids how to plan to be surprised."

That does it for me.