“Every vision is a joke until the first man accomplishes it,” responded Goddard. “Once realized, it becomes commonplace.”I started with this picture yesterday and wrote a short story around my frequent comment that "I would rather live in a cardboard box..."
I didn't like it enough to post, so I cut it and decided to start again.
This little girl reaching for the moon inspires me, so I typed those words in my browser and the above linked story about Robert Goddard - The Moon Man came up. The author says, "Eighty-five years ago today, pioneer Robert Goddard launched the first liquid fueled rocket. We take a look back at the man ridiculed for his belief that rockets would one day reach the moon."
I think it is harder these days not to believe in your own dreams than it is to believe; there is so much inspiration and so many success stories. It is certainly a greater risk not to reach for the moon than it is to try. So many of us think we have security in a job, a steady paycheck - no matter how miserable we may be day after day, punching a clock, taking orders, doing tasks we despise for pay that never seems like enough. I suppose there are a lucky few who have found their "spots". But I hear so often things like, "I'm so glad it's almost 5 o'clock." or "It's hump day...only two more to go. I can't wait for the weekend." I remember wishing the day away. Wishing my life away. It was robbing my soul.
Yesterday my pastor stopped by my little "Studio Variety Store" where I do sewing and alterations out my garage and sell a few bags of high-end Petcurian pet food, pet treats, a few lollipops, T-shirts and other stuff. Today I did some ironing for a lady who drove up to my gate while my hair was still wet and my face was in the middle of being put on (war paint?).
"I know you're not open yet....do you do ironing." "Hmm", I thought for a minute, "Yeah, I could do that."
"Oh, wonderful!" she said, "I'm on spring vacation from teaching and I promised myself I wasn't going to work through it."
There is nothing like having the freedom of choice. Even if it comes at a huge risk to do so. My pastor had come from a business meeting. He wanted to ask me if I would be willing to host a Koinonia group at my home. "Eeek!" I cringed, "Oh, my house is in no shape to host a group. I'm horrified. I am so sorry my house is in this shape!"
He said, "You are an artist. I understand."
Oh my gosh. I wish it were that simple. Let me tell you all of all my excuses....oh, never mind. It is what it is, but it is in no shape to host a group. It is really more that I would rather be a business person than a housekeeper. That is the truth. Housework seems like such a waste of time. There are so many other, more valuable and important things to do than ...eeek, housework!
Who doesn't love a clean house? But I would rather write, sew, iron, pet dogs, listen to birds chirp, water plants, did I say sew? I want to be online investigating downtown Tempe as a new place to think about visiting the SBA for consideration of a better "location, location, location!" I would rather be checking out American Express's website to see if the author of the "Website for Dummies" book was right, a great site to model.
Pastor Lupe and I talked about business and the state of our little community. We talked about things we might do to improve it or ways we can all help each other. We talked about the progress of our Church's idea of a community garden.
We talked about our city politics and the ways we think it is interfering with any progress to a good end. He has a wonderful passion for our little town and has himself chosen rather to "live in a cardboard box" (tongue in cheek) than to give up on his belief that this is the right thing for him to be doing. He makes great sacrifices for it too, and we all appreciate it, believe you me. We love our church. And we believe it will grow. But we trust God for that. We just keep reaching out for the moon... the sun and the stars, and rowing the boat.
I'm looking out my desk window and as we speak, the man in the moon is looking right at me. It is still light outside, my canaries are getting ready for lights out, chirp, chirp, one dog is under my desk, the other just snorted, sighed rather, in contentment on her pile of blankets (her "spot"), waiting for Mom to finish and go in for the night.
We will all get up together again tomorrow. We will plan for better things and get busy rowing the boat to get there. I'll do the things I forgot to do today. Maybe I'll sneak in a tiny little tiny bit of eeek, housework, (dishes at least) and a lot of other creative venturing into the unknown for the sheer determination to "rather live in a cardboard box" than give up on my chase to the moon, my vision that may seem like a joke to some". Not to me it don't, (doesn't)!
See what Wiki has to say about "rowing the boat"...
Meaning: The lyrics have often been used as a metaphor for life's difficult choices, and many see the boat as referring to one's self or a group with which one identifies.[2] Rowing is a skillful, if tedious, practice that takes perfection but also directs the vessel.[3] When sung as a group, the act of rowing becomes a unifier, as oars must be in sync in a rowboat. The idea that man travels along a certain stream suggests boundaries in the path of choices and in free will.[4] The third line recommends that challenges should be greeted in stride while open to joy with a smile.[5] The final line, "life is but a dream", is perhaps the most meaningful. With a religious point of view, life and the physical plane may be regarded as having equivalent value as that of a dream, such that troubles are seen in the context of a lesser reality once one has awakened.[6] Conversely, the line can just as equally convey nihilist sentiments on the meaninglessness of man's actions. Some have questioned the song's implied necessity to row one's boat downstream. This may in fact be a commentary on the paradoxical nature of time's arrow with respect to man's free will in a universe of materialistic causality.[7]
Don't Rob Another Man's Castle Lyrics by Eddy Arnold
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