So much in life is dependent on chance. Did we get good,
healthy parents who gave us attention and guidance? Did we have the misfortune
to be born to great wealth or terrible poverty, either of which can limit our
choices and kill our imagination and initiative?
Okay, I hear you laughing at great wealth being a
misfortune, but, from what I have seen, it can kill ambition and open a lot of
the wrong doors in life. It is very easy to fall off the edge when expectations
are high and you have little understanding of what the real world is like.
Yes, great poverty is a much larger hurdle to overcome. If
you don’t have strong ambition and great strength of character, it is very easy
to be swallowed up by the walls and the sink holes that surround you. But you
grow up knowing that there are better places than where you start. I think
there can be advantages in seeing that the world can be brighter where you are
trying to go, rather than having the world so bright behind you that you find
yourself staring into the shadows.
The real determinants in life are the choices you make from
wherever you start. We all face a point in our lives when we must assess our
particular strengths and weaknesses and decide which will dominate our path.
Luck determines where we start in life, but our choices
determine where we finish. If we have the strength of character to overcome the
stuff that circumstances and people throw at us, we can live good, productive
lives.
Each of us has a “Stranger
at the Door” (In the Cat’s Eye,
Snap Screen Press, 2009) challenging us perhaps, or just waiting out
there to see what we can make out of the great blessing of life.
We can pass the years hiding from the stranger or we can
make the decision to open the door and face the world, no matter how much of a
storm may be blowing.
The choice is there for all of us, no matter where we come
from. What will you do?
Glenn K. Currie
The Stranger at the Door
There is a stranger
at my door.
I hide behind my
chains and locks,
Afraid of his
judgement.
He has traveled a great
distance
To demand more from
me
Than I know how to
give.
Through the drawn
curtains,
I hear him taunting
me for my fears.
“The Earth is too
large”, I say,
“The universe is too
small”, he replies.
My mind runs in
circles
As I watch the mirror
change.
I am torn between
less and more,
What I am and what
can be.
My vision is flawed
by temerity.
Yet, if I dare, I
will see
Who now stands so
quietly,
This stranger at the
door.
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