It’s always terrifying to launch yourself into the unknown, to experience freefall as the familiar slips away. What can make that experience of falling exhilarating, and not simply heart-stopping, is knowing that you are connected to an anchor—a person, a belief, a sense of self—with an unbreakable rope.
What serves as your anchor when you feel you are falling?
So often apologies from politicians or corporate spokespeople only add insult to the original injury. “I regret that I misspoke.” “I’m sorry that my words were misunderstood.” But a genuine, heartfelt apology, which names the offense clearly and offers restitution, can bring about true healing.
How has an apology—yours or another person’s—made a difference in your life?”
It’s hard to feel like the things we do make a difference. The dishes I wash will be dirty again in a moment, a single call or letter to a legislator has little impact, and more often than not the words of wisdom I impart on my child have no effect at all. Sometimes it helps to take the long view—the really long view—and remember that the Grand Canyon was carved by water and wind one grain of sand (or boulder) at a time.
How do you see that you have shaped the world when you take the long view?
When you were a child, did you ever lose a ball over the fence, a Frisbee onto the roof or a kite into a tree? It’s hard not to panic when something you care about suddenly slips out of sight. Sometimes we managed to get those beloved playthings back, and sometimes we didn’t. But not too infrequently, when you went looking for the item that escaped, you would find something else entirely, something you thought was gone forever, or that you had completely forgotten about.
What have you found when you were looking for something else?
Most children have been back to school for a week or more, but somewhere in my consciousness, the day after Labor Day is fixed as the return to school. So I’m thinking that for those of us who left formal schooling behind many years ago, maybe today should mark Learn Something Day. Of course, any day is a good day to learn something new, but today could be an exceptionally good day to stretch your mind a bit.
What might you explore today about our amazing world and the people and other beings we share it with?
