Sunday, January 29, 2012

Far From My Original Thought

“When one door closes, another opens, but often we look so long at he closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us”. – Helen Keller
It is a quote I have heard often, or at least the first part of it about the closing and opening doors. But I am not sure I have ever heard the last half. And that is where I run into trouble.

Either out of nostalgia, grief, or a dozen other things, I keep wanting to look back. I know I have talked about this part of human nature. You know- the Good Old Days. I have talked about how they were neither good or old. In fact they probably weren't real either. At least not the way we like to remember them, anyway. (A good example might be the way politicians will "remember" their own past statements and successes in a way that doesn't reflect anyone's reality.)

With surgery the other week I have had to face a couple things that are changing. At least from a physical standpoint. I cannot do what I used to do. End of statement. Some of it may only be temporary, but some may last forever. For today I have to take it easy so my surgery can heal. But we learned a couple weeks ago that it is probably NOT a good idea for me to have a backpack when I travel that is loaded down with electronic equipment. That is not good for the back and neck.

So I finally had to agree with my wife that I need to do something different about carrying the laptop and cameras when I travel. Like a bag with wheels instead of the old faithful backpack. But I like the backpack. It keeps my hands free. It gives me a sense of wandering. It helps me continue to think I am young.

All that was the looking at the closed door. It didn't work- and shouldn't. Why not give in and allow a new way of thinking to emerge?

Helen Keller said it best. We cannot look to the open door as long as we mourn the closed one. Or try to recreate it or pretend it is still open. Move on! Live!

Or perhaps more eloquently from Albert Einstein:
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.”

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