Landings
The landings
Standing at the Lincoln Memorial it was a little daunting to
look at all of the steps that lead to the top, or down from the to
sidewalk. Built into the elevation is
the occasional plateau or landing. It works
with the symmetry and the effect is nice.
The view of the reflecting pool is awe inspiring and fills your mind
with the history of the place and all that has been a part of the site.
While pondering this I did a little reflecting on my own,
and here is an item for consideration.
Entropy is what makes our muscles sag and our cars rust. It is what makes mountains into plains and
planes into scrap. Entropy is what keeps
friendships difficult, because you cannot ignore them, or they deteriorate into
rubbish. Like a set of stairs, the
friendship can seem a little daunting at times and it is so much easier to keep
going to the next step down. Like the
Lincoln stairs, you can even stay on one step and walk along the breadth and
not move up or down and still be moving.
Then entropy comes again. Like an
out of place glace or a sharp edged, cutting comment or pointed jab from an
otherwise safe place, so you step down a step or two. And then there are the landings that give you
room to wander and move. Not up or down, but both wide and long, and seemingly
safe from the prod or the poke or the cut.
It is an illusion you know, because you can look back up the steps and
you know how far down that you have moved.
You might even be a bit surprised at how far it really is, or perhaps
each step is remembered, by each jab that moved you. When it happened and who poked. Where you were is just that, where you
were. Not where you are. Perhaps there have been several landings
since the beginning, and you did like the view so much better on the top of the
hill. And here you are. At another step
or on a lower landing, and it feels like a stick is near and so is the edge of
the step. The trouble is that you have
awakened to the process now and you see the actions and the effects, and the
reality of the repetition and the result is all to familiar.
It could be the Lotto. Or the liquor. Maybe, it is just the needy friend that
complains about everything. Or, the nosy neighbor that is always copying your
latest landscaping ideas, it simply becomes irksome. Like the new pants shredded by the dog, you
knew that it might happen again, but you had hoped for better. But here you are. With the shredded pants and
broken hope and you step down to the next one down. Or is it a tumble down several and you got
taken by surprise when it is your child on TV in the wreck or your business
that caught fire, or the serving of papers by the sheriff. Not only were there several steps, lots of
bumps and tumbles, but what was is no longer.
Familiar is replaced with a new normal that is far from the last
normal. And the view is different down
here by a very long way.
So now what? What is
the method of moving up to get a better view?
Will that be the same as it was?
Hardly. You cannot un-know a smell
or a sight or a fear. The bruises will
heal or be covered but the things you experienced will never go away. The memories will always be able to be
brought back. Sometimes unexpectedly,
sometimes like a light in the dark, but they come.
So then, how to climb the stairs again? What is it that moves the relationship back
up the hill and fights against the natural order of things and the normal
course of events? Is there a support or
a crutch or an easier path to trod? The
answer is both yes and no. Nothing will
remove the sights and the smells of the trip to where you are. So, what then is the action? Forgiveness. It sounds trite but let me explain. It is the only way to unload the encumbrances
of the burden that you carry. Forgiveness
is for you.
Is it easy, quick,
effective every time? Well, since you
cannot control the response of the one that you forgive, all you can do is
build the drawbridge from your side and let it down gently. Forgiveness will bring you back to the top,
past each step that you went down, and across each landing that you lingered
on. Do you need the one you forgive to return the favor? That is not forgiveness and it will keep you
on “that” step until you realize it. You can do this on your own, and go around
the prod holders and comment wielders, and climb the stairs again, without
them. When you look around, the group
will have changed, but then again so have you.
They may be ones that climbed the stairs for the first time or ones that
start fresh from the top, having arrived a different way than you came. You are all there, at the place of
redemption, hope and renewal at least to get to the landing you are on. You are a different person for the steps you
went down, and the forgiveness needed to climb again, but you are. Symbolic in ways, real in others, you are in
the state of becoming. The idea that
everyone is there with you is not the same as everyone is at the same
place. Those that came up after their
long trip down are not the same as those that climbed having never been to the
top before. And of those that have not
yet experienced entropy?
It is only by a topic
that we are talking. I have not walked
the path that brought them to the feet of Lincoln. Having stood at the feet of the oversized
statue it is impressive. To stand near
one that has climbed the steps is to be near the one with a story. A story of bondage to a hurt. A violation that has been, or perhaps is
still yet unresolved. While you can get
to the Lincoln Memorial without the steps, the tale is told differently for
that journey. To have not suffered is a
story as well, told by the fresh and unspoiled.
Be gentle with them as well. They
will understand entropy soon enough.
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