[Note: this is part of our annual Guest Writer Series. Meet guest writer #5.]
“Isn’t it strange that princes and kings
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings
And common folk like you and me
Are builders of eternity.
To each is given a bag of tools
A shapeless mass and a book of rules
And each must make, ere time is flown
A stumbling-block or a stepping-stone.”
— R.S. Sharp
Many years ago, I was asked to speak at the Life Celebration for a long-time family friend, a man who was really a guide for many, including me, in this business of life. He was respected for his leadership as well as his servant heart. I concluded my remarks with this poem because it was a fitting statement to reflect how he had lived.
Now whenever I re-read it, I wonder if this poem isn’t more relevant to how we are living our life now, not just a statement about how one has lived it. In fact, maybe it should be part of a diploma or something we receive at the beginning of adulthood. Maybe the more fitting application might be to ask ourselves, “What are we/I building? Now, not someday?”
First, the “We,” meaning our home, our community, our country, our culture. Our media seems to be filled with what some would say, “Going to hell in a handbasket.” There seems to be more angst than amicability, more depression than decency, more shouting than solidarity, more panic than peace. So, we tend to wring our hands, separating the “I” from the “We.”
So instead of the “We,” should the “I” not look in the mirror? And ask, “What am I building?” The poet says that each of us is given “a bag of tools, a shapeless mass, and a book of rules.” He does not say these are identical, but suggests that we are all equipped. The question seems to be “Okay, now what?” Do I evaluate them and their use in my life? Do I envy the equipment of others and thereby waste and neglect my own? Do I seriously ask what I am building, honestly asking myself if I am building a life of purpose and meaningfulness for myself as well as others?
When I see a construction company at work, it is obviously a team of various skills committed to achieve a unified end. If both the “I” and the “We” recognized this teamwork, it would seem the result of such awareness would negate the handbasket and create stepping stones for both the “We” and the “I.”
Respectfully…
DWL