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Hats Off | by |
| Column dedicated to sharing news about community activities, service projects, and other events that are important to the life of the residents of our "mountain." |
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published on 08/03/2005
Hats off...to a lesson in life
By
sigmtn.com staff writer
Two things happened recently that struck a cord with my sense of belonging. The first was the tenacity of a spider’s web. I got into my car to leave for work one morning and did not notice the spider web on the car door of the driver’s side until I started driving toward the morning sunshine. There reflected in the rays of the sun was a spider web spanning the mirror and car door and to my surprise was a spider centered in the middle. It is not in my nature to destroy a home so I left it but kept my window raised in case the wind blew it apart and therefore into my face. But amazingly the web stayed in tact all the way to work, and the spider remained put until about halfway there. The web is a spider’s home. Without it, the spider cannot survive.
The other incident that I witnessed occurred while preparing the potato salad for my husband’s Father’s Day dinner. I put the potatoes into the pot, added the water, and placed the pot on the large burner, and turned it on high. As I watched the water come to a boil (a necessary step before turning down to cook the potatoes) I observed the bubbles. The hotter the water got the more tiny bubbles surfaced to the top. At first they wandered aimlessly until they neared each other. And then like a magnet they attached to each other forming larger bubbles but still keeping the tiny bubbles in sight. But as the larger groups wandered and eventually ran into the sides of the pot, they dispersed becoming one with the water again.
I couldn’t help but think how these two simple events mimicked life as we humans see it. The spider’s web represents our strength and courage to stay focused in our lives; stay connected to the things we find important; the things that make us who and what we are. The tiny bubbles remind us that we are individuals but also part of a whole. We are all attracted to like beings whether it’s our religion, politics, workplace, neighborhoods, or hobby. And the trap many of us fall into is staying in that circle and never stepping out. Like the spider that depends on the web for survival, human beings depend on their circle to survive. But when that bubble bursts, it isn’t destroyed, it’s made whole. According to author Ron Fox, “We are living in a time when more and more people are realizing that our individual destiny and the world’s destiny are linked.”
And so what did I learn from these two lessons? That it’s up to each of us to remember who we are and what we are called to do in our every day life, at work, in school, in our community. Stay centered but remember to think outside the box!
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