my duty...

with many facets, many ideas, many versions, can something be true through and through even if on the surface it appears to be something different entirely?

I met an Olympic athlete last night. An Olympic athlete with a secret. Out of respect for the innocent his identity will remain a mystery, but his quandary is felt out in the open, all around the world....

so:

Here he was, this athlete, a handsome chap, young and virile, built like a mo-fo, 80 feet tall, dear as can be and, while he's quite adept at achieving great feats of physical activity, all he wants to do is ... write poetry. This is a true fact. He whispered this to me so his teammates wouldn't hear... He hid behind his love of words as he lowered his voice ... He yearns to live everyday through truth and poetic justice, yet this is a quiet fact known by but a few.

And the kicker?

He sent me his favorite poem, a prose piece on living fully ... A prose piece that would encourage him to shout his truth from the rooftops... A prose piece that would applaud him ebulliently if HE were simply HIM. But again, this poet is not known as a poet. He is known as an athlete. And that is where his outward persona stops.

So, why do I care? Because I do. Because I am feeling like all too often people hide from their calling, dodge it as it approaches again and again, ignore the noise from inside their chest and run wildly from their destined path. And this fella, who has achieved so much, is somehow doing it too.

Now, don't get me wrong. He is writing and writing even more and writing EVEN MORE. But outwardly, he whispered this to me. As if it were something to be ashamed of. Outwardly, he hid.

So, I wonder, what's up with that? Is this a shy thing? A quiet thing? A meek thing? Or, is this a gender thing?  If he were a woman, would she hide this from her teammates? Would she whisper where she should announce? Would she throw it out there, that she could be an Olympic athlete AND a poet? 

And I wonder even more: When does this gender limitation stop, then, and real human existence begin? Just what is it that we all have in common? Is it only fear? Is it only ego? --And the way we deal with it simply a false bridge where never the two shall meet? Where women walk down this side and men walk down that? Where strong men feel they must whisper their true love and strong women feel they must broadcast this truth to the world? Or do women do the same thing? Is it not a gender thing at all but simply a world where loud mouths are loud mouths and mice are mice?

I do not know. These are simple thoughts on this Monday morning ... These are life-long questions that really need no answer... These are merely quips to get the engines warmed.....

In the meantime, I will say this: To my new friend, I truly hope you get published. I hope you reach the stars. I hope you find that voice--that strong voice inside you--and share it with the world. 

And to myself? I hope I continue to learn from experiences like this... I hope I remember that in my Desiderata, in my existence, I cannot hide my truth. I cannot speak in hushed tones. I cannot ignore the fact that "With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world" and it is my job--my earthbound DUTY--to live it fully, experience the most I can, actively suck-the-freakin-marrow-out-of-it-all until the  very   last    moment    I     draw     breath. And even more importantly? I cannot--in no way, shape or form--run from my task to share these gifts with the world, to shout them from the heavens and to create a universe that remembers we're all on the same team and the only way we'll win is if we cheer each other on. Loudly. Exuberently. For whatever it is we do. In whatever way we know how. 

Amen.

Comments

[Kari]

A FRICKIN' Men! Well said Gjertsy...! Man, you are beautiful! Thanks again for a wonderful week-end!

[Mary]

I don't recall how I stumbled in (was Googling something and one click led to another)...but this entry made me glad that I did.

Nice journal. Nice entry.