They were five.
Fighting their way up cold, steep slopes in snow up to their knees. Praying for the top to be close.
The wind tried countless times to punish them and send them back down. The mountain tried to swallow some of them eight times. Three ledges gave way and attempted to send them crashing into sharp rocks down below.
Nature seemed to warn them repeatedly how much inadvisable it was for them to go up there.
But they were five.
His presentation was over. James quietly walked to his seat satisfied.
On the way, he exchanged an exploding fist bump with Clive. Bob, one row down, gave him a high five. Little J, two rows down, just pointed a congratulatory index finger.
Mrs Thompson, the middle-aged teacher watched them from her seat in the corner of the class. Before today, she was quite sure she had seen everything that could occur in classroom. She couldn’t hide her surprise.
“See? And there they are.” Larry claimed as he leaned against the window frame, pointing at how right he always was.
Five silent figures in the dark surveyed the front yard, eagerly stalking a man and a woman that walked off a black SUV parked outside the wide open gate. They looked young. A thin curtain of rain softened the view.
Benny and Vinny stood in the back, quiet. Low level grunts, they had no say in anything. What did they had to gain here today? Nothing. Their minds were spinning the upcoming events, weighing options, sweating.
Everything was going to hell tonight.
What is a thought? What is a good thought? How to we allocate enough time to grant others the flash of a thought?
Here is a story.
Let’s say you and I work in a office somewhere. Same level; we work together. We usually get along. We know each other long enough to minimize friction.
We cannot call each other friends, but we went past being colleagues. So much that we have enjoyed some success in working as a team.
Most cultures in the modern world celebrate the individual. We are conditioning ourselves to be proud of our differences, our uniqueness. We teach it to our kids. Everyone everywhere wants to be a “leader”, the one that stands out, the one everybody worships and praises, the famous one on TV. The star.
As a result, nothing we humans do together feels right. There’s always something off with it. Have you ever looked at teams in sports, at work, anywhere?
Remember the neighbor’s lawnmower? If not, you can read it here.
Imagine you actually went down your stairs, out the door, onto your neighbor’s front porch and you rang his bell.
Just hear me out for a second before you close this page.
The old man is home. Maybe not feeling so well, so he skipped mowing just this once so he could rest. How much will this small conversation bring to both of you?
Ah!
It’s Saturday!
Blessed, day off. Time to relax, slow down and enjoy life. Time to count your many blessings.
Time to feel like a king.
Your next door neighbor also loves Saturdays. Especially Saturday mornings. He’s an old man. He likes the simple life. Every Saturday, at exactly 10:00 am, he mows his lawn.
