Darkness fell over the land early. A storm was coming. Thunder like distant cannon fire echoed from the sky.
She rolled the generator onto the porch; if the electricity went out, it would power the sump pump and a lamp — or maybe the Wi-Fi router — were all the devices charged?
After she plugged everything ins she picked up her book and continued where she’d left off. Some ancient royal was having his way with one of the ladies while her husband was off to war. A light rain began to fall, and the cat jumped into her lap. She stroked the little beast as she read about the royal tryst.
A sudden, nearby clap of thunder made her start, and the cat meowed and jumped for cover. It was only when the pounding on the front door was repeated did she fully realize that someone had knocked at the same moment as the thunderbolt.
Slowly she slid back the dead bolt and opened the door. A gray-haired man stood in the threshold, slightly taller than she, looking her over with a strange glint in his eyes.
After a moment, he spoke. “Do you believe in the hereafter, lovely lady?”
Her mouth twitched. “Why, yes. Yes, I do.”
He grinned a wicked grin and stepped toward her, raising his hands.
“Then you know what I’m here after.”
Another clap of thunder sounded nearby, and she slapped his hand away.
“Get in here, you idiot,” she said, laughing and pulling him inside. “That joke was old when Rowan and Martin used it in the sixties. Come on, I’ll pour you a drink.”
I have tested positive for the plague and am being strongly encouraged to stay isolated for at least five days. If I go out in public, I have to wear a mask and hire someone to walk 10 feet in front of me shouting, “Unclean! Unclean!”
How will I handle this opportunity?
For it IS an opportunity — to sit at home, with nothing to do except write.
Oh, the responsibilities of the day job go on in this electronic age, but all travel ceases for now, eliminating up to two hours on the road each day. Red is staying with the kids for a few days for her own good, so I have nothing to do except water her flowers, tend to the pets, eat, sleep, and write and write and write.
Or will I read and binge-watch TV?
This is it: The ultimate test of my commitment to the creative life. Now we find, if I was stranded on a desert isle, would I write or vegetate?
Of course, I’m off that hook if I get sicker, but I feel much better than I did Friday, so the early signs point to a quickish recovery. I’m writing this, after all, and on Friday my brain was mush and all I could do was sleep.
All you need to know is it’s up to you.Whatever “it” is, you can and must take care of it.
That realization can and will fill you with fear. That realization can and – if you let it – fill you with the greatest sense of power and peace.
No longer is it out of your control. No longer is it dependent on someone “out there” who may or may not ever notice or care.
No – that is to say, yes – you have the reins of your life. You decide what happens next.
“If it’s going to be, it’s up to me.” It really is that simple.
It’s not easy. If anyone tells you “easy,” they’re lying to you or perhaps even to themselves.
But simple? Yes, it’s really simple: You can be the change you want in the world.
In simple fact, if you are not that change, it won’t happen. Not, at least, in your world.
That boss? That spouse? That senator? That president? They can’t affect your world. They don’t have the power. They can’t get inside you and tinker with you – your soul, your attitude, your thoughts, your feelings. Only you can get that close. Only you can tinker with what’s in there.
Yes, you can let them in. But the change – if you care to change – is up to you.
And if you’re right – if they want you to change in a way you know isn’t right – well, then, hold on. Don’t let someone else take the power from you.
Oh, no doubt, someone with “power” can affect the external trappings of your life. They can confine you, adjust your wages, withdraw your job, beat you, steal from you, and cause you discomfort and pain – physical, mental or spiritual. Yes, they can even kill you.
But they can’t touch you unless and until you let them.
By “you” I mean that special sentience – that unique essence of who you are – what makes you you.
It belongs to you. You were born with it, and it will stay with you until the mortal vessel you occupy and operate runs out of power.
You can never again control what happened before. That happened. It’s over. But you can always control how you react to it, now, this moment.
Your reactions – your proactions – are in your hands. Your hands – those powerful tools that can pick up a tool and do your bidding. Those mighty tools that can reach out and build or close in a fist – that can nourish or strangle – that can grow a garden or drive a car or tear down a wall or take a life.
Your hands – your mind – your soul can be instruments of life or death. Choose wisely. Find wisdom. Seek truth. Ignore lies – no, wait: Correct lies.
You are not the only one who wants to know the truth. You are not the only one who wants to be the change. Help others understand.
But know this: Each of us has the power to change only one life – the one under the control of the person you call I. me. myself. You do not have the power to change or control your neighbor, your mate, your parent, your child, or that stranger.
You do have the power to persuade – or to force your will on others. In the first instance you can gain a soulmate, an ally, a companion, a fellow. In the second you gain nothing but solitude and hatred and bitterness and resentment.
You cannot take their freedom, no matter how high and thick you build the walls of their cage. Neither can others take your freedom, no matter how high and thick they build the walls of your cage. It’s all up to you.
You have the power, you have the controls, you have the reins of your life – but only your life.
The extent to which you lead others is completely dependent on those others. The extent to which others lead you is completely dependent on you.
Decide this moment to take the reins of your life. They’ve been in your hands all along anyway. They’ve taken you to this place, good or bad or indifferent, where you are at this moment.
