Those Magic "Moments"

Let’s stop right here and think about something. Do you remember any of those moments in life when you realized things that seemed profound to us at the time – for example, the realization that you might write a great work of literature? Alright, it didn’t have to be a great work, but you knew that you had something important to say – that your insight would be useful and should be shared with the world for the betterment of mankind. Maybe your “moment” had nothing to do with writing. Perhaps you would be a wiz in the lab and make some significant breakthrough in science or medicine. Maybe you would paint a great picture, or inspire the world with your music. There are so many things that we might have done in life. And I’m not talking about whether or not you ever did these things. For all I know, you have. No, what I’m referring to is that “moment of realization” – a point in life when we discovered within ourselves the promise of something. The new beginning!

These moments generally come to us earlier in our lives when our minds and bodies are fresh, our energy levels are high, and the future lies before us. Actually, I’ve had many of these revelations – so many that there is no way I could ever remember them all. They are like falling in love, having great sex, or maybe just eating chocolate. Well, maybe eating chocolate is just too mundane, but you get the idea. These are great experiences and the stimulation that we gain from them gives us the drive to follow through. Sure these “moments” do not all result with the realization of the dream, but the joy of the moment and the pursuit leads us to one of life’s most enriching experiences.

Now that you know what “moments” are under discussion, the question that I have is – are there just a finite number of these “moments” that can occur in our lifetime? Are these “moments” limited to our youth? Do such “moments” continue throughout our lives with just the sense of the profound being diminished? Will Godot ever get here?

 My feeling is that these “moments” do continue throughout our lives. However, it is possible that some of these “moments” are lost in the task of living. We lose our ability to recognize them as we are desensitized by exhaustion from responsibility. We lose the ability to see and feel some of life’s most beautiful moments. There are innumerable times that I have read about the most creative people and their imperfections. They are lousy at relationships. They cheat on their responsibilities. They ignore the burdens that most of us carry. The ability to create comes at a cost. I don’t really know if this is valid, but it sometimes feels that way.

It seems like this kind of feeling should be a total downer, but is it? To me it is hopeful.  I realize that, if I can just find a balance between the burdens and responsibilities of life and the freedom to be inspired and create new “moments”,  I will have happiness. This hope is what carries me forward and gives me a sense that there are contributions that still might be made.

Today, we have all these new communications tools that are the result of the explosion of ideas that are coming out of digital technology. These tools provide us with new efficient ways of expressing ourselves that are profound amplifications of earlier advances such as the typewriter, the printing press, or even the pencil. Think about the traditional music that comes out of the coves deep in the Appalachian Mountains. Music forms evolved using instruments that were easy to carry, easy and cheap to build, and accessible to all. Not everyone had a grand piano in their living room. Not everyone had a living room. But, people gathered on a front porch or in a barn after a hard day of work –  in the evening or on market day and created wonderful music.

Take a look at the evolution of literature – what came first the writing or the printing press? What came first the chicken or the egg? Folks have been transcribing ideas since the days of petroglyphs on cave walls. The printing press sure helped with the proliferation of literacy. A pencil and some paper is all that it took to begin to express ourselves in a way that saved those thoughts and provided a path towards their dissemination to others. It is hard to imagine that any of us doesn’t understand how difficult that it would be to go back to these origins. Yet, these simple concepts were once profound ideas and impossible for the world to get its collective mind around.

Modern technology now provides us with tools that take the creation of ideas and the ability to share them to a level that is profoundly easier and more effective than ever before. Of course, these tools will not make me a better writer, musician, visionary, thinker, or creator of ideas. But good tools give us a greater facility to learn, practice and develop crafts that we did not have before. Tools such as our modern technology offer to us today open new pathways for our “moments” to find us.

My argument is that genius comes from engagement. My ability to be a visionary is handicapped more by an inability, or unwillingness, to be engaged in the world of ideas than by a lack of intelligence. The development of our aptitudes, or life crafts if you will, plays a far greater role in our successes than just about anything. Thus, my conclusion is to do my best to learn as many of the tools that I can to facilitate the experience of arriving at new “moments” of discovery and meaning. Life can, and should, be defined by the great “moments” that arise in life. May they never stop!

Reconnecting thanks to internet technology – social networking at its finest!

It’s been a pretty good week. Thank goodness for some down time now. There were 27 guests in town for a reunion of old friends from more than forty years ago. I guess that I don’t have the energy that I had back then, but this is a welcome exhaustion. My fatigue will quickly pass, but the wonderful experience of revisiting one of the most productive learning periods of my life will remain with me.

Reunions are funny experiences that bring with them all sorts of odd reactions, unpredictable behavior, and unanticipated emotion. Over the years, I have listened to friends and acquaintances tell their stories. Most have fallen into the realm of what I would refer to as “classical” – folks trying to fool old classmates with tales of adventure, achievement, and association. 

My first experience was with some of the friends who were visiting during this past week. We are Vietnam Era veterans that, although none of us served there, played a significant role in the Cold War. We are veterans of the United States Naval Security Group. We were involved in intelligence missions. Many enlisted to avoid the draft and escape going to Vietnam. It was a bright, creative group of young men who were selected by the Navy for a purpose that most of us had never dreamed of. Our military mission was “operational”; had real meaning; was important; and helped to define us.

Twenty years ago, we were able to locate enough of these friends to gather in a Missouri state park not far from St. Louis. This was not easy to accomplish, however. Because of the nature of our work, when separated from the Navy, we were simply debriefed and sent home. We were not encouraged to remain in contact with our friends. It was the 60s and mostly we just wanted to go home, let our hair grow, go back to school, reconnect with the friends of our youth, and get on with our lives. Years later, if one were to feel nostalgia for the friends and experiences of our time in military service, there were no open doors to access our old duty rosters. We were “classified” still and simply not available to each other.

Fortunately, each of us had maintained a contact or two. Some of our group had been amateur radio operators. We had worked with technology and communications.  So, when the internet became a tool for the modern world, there were early users from our group of lost friends. With no organization, no alumni group, no school fundraisers, it was necessary for us to find ourselves. This has been a slow process, but every connection made has been a new promise of success at broadening our group.

Last year, a small group of us found a way to get together once again. Some are retired now, some have aged well – others have passed away or are experiencing debilitating signs of aging.  A combined sense of getting on in years, available time, and the urgency of having lost some of our friends paid us a visit at that meeting last year. But, mustering up the energy to continue to work finding and reconnecting is not easy. The length of time that has past and so many other distractions in people’s lives today are difficult obstacles. Even as we were working towards this year’s gathering, our effort has been shadowed by illness and death.

Still, we pulled it off! Our partial group of veterans, their wives or partners, some grandchildren even, were able to sit down together in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. We laughed, remembered, and shared openly.  Our efforts have been wonderfully rewarded, our exhaustion earned, and our memories have been enriched. I can’t wait until we meet again!