Rise Up

 

We may stumble and fall but shall rise again; it should be enough if we did not run away from the battle.

Indian freedom fighter, activist and philosopher, Mahatma Gandhi, was born on this day in 1869 (died 1948)

I had a director once ask me if I could fall on stage.

I answered “Once. Which performance would you like it in?”

Now I’m potentially (sorting it out) going to be working with a trainer who started me doing lunges.

Started. Me.

Don’t get me wrong. I got back up.

It just wasn’t pretty.

Also true that, when I played Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, I had to be dropped out of a chair, slide down a slide and end up face down “dead” during the final sequence.

Then I had roughly sixteen beats to stand up and sing my line.

I did it.

We all fall down. We all stumble. We all make mistakes.

But those are only failures if we don’t get back up.

And so, if you’re a regular reader (and if you’re not, you should be), you’ll see a pattern in these blog posts. I’ll talk about something I’ll plan to do. I’ll make grand plans, develop a schedule, tell you that I am absolutely committed to getting it done.

Then life gets in the way of the timeline.

Sometimes the life lesson is that we shouldn’t really be attempting something. More often, it’s simply “not yet.”

All the grand plans in the world can’t account for the fact that there’s only 24 hours in a day, and they can’t account for the fact that life happens, people get sick, things break, Washington…

You get the point.

So, when I say that I’m going to get that script published and it’s not done by a certain date, or I say that I’m going to get back to the novels, or back to the canvas, or lose a certain amount of poundage, I may stumble.

And, with more determination than a GOP-led Senate trying (or not trying) to repeal Obamacare, I have to get up and be deliberate about what needs to be done.

From a practical standpoint, I know that I will never meet all of my goals. For one thing, when I meet one (or some), I just make new ones.

As long as I’m able to pick myself back up, I plan to do so. I plan to keep working, and planning, and trying, and moving forward.

That’s what I call success.

Whatever we’re fighting for, on this side of the Jordan River, the battle never really ends.

Let’s keep going.

AND FINALLY,

American singer-songwriter and guitarist, Don McLean, was born on this day in 1945.

______________________________________

Peanuts: Fair use, Wikipedia