Figuring Out Life

One autumn day early in the twenty-first century I drove out Route 2 from Boston to Concord. It is the same route Paul Revere followed in April 1775 to warn his fellow colonists of the approaching British army. Nowadays it is known for another, far deadlier, enemy.

Wild turkeys.

Returning to Boston in the late afternoon as dusk approached, I was rushing along the highway with my fellow motorists. Without warning, a flock of wild turkeys flew out of the bushes and took over the highway.

Lucky me. I was the first car in line. I screeched to a halt and put on the car blinkers. Traffic beside and behind me came to an abrupt standstill.

Maybe colonial militias could battle the British, but only fools take on wild turkeys. Wild turkeys need no provocation to attack cars, bikers or anyone who gets in their way.

When the birds decided they’d had enough — I swear I saw them snickering at us — they waddled back into the woods.

I was able to react so quickly to the turkeys’ appearance because others had figured it out before me. I paid attention and took appropriate measures.

What comes our way in life can be figured out. It’s all in how we respond to what appears to be the mystery of it.

It’s being aware that sometimes the answer is “No.” We will not always get what we want.

It’s not what we need.

As a boy I was informed by my teachers, parents and others that there were always solutions to any problem. Everything may not be as simple as 1 + 1 = 2, but there is always a way to find an answer.

Working through life’s situations might not be as easy as we’d like. It may be easier than we could possibly imagine.

Too often we look backward. We look for answers from the past when we need to build on them and move ahead. Face forward. We make up fairy tales about how wonderful things were in the “good old days”.

As a wise woman, my Mother, so often said over the last forty or fifty years of her life, “These are the good old days.” She lived in the present.

Thanksgiving 2020 is a perfect time to look at new and better ways of moving forward. It was only by acknowledging the damage wild turkeys could do to me and my car that I was able to sit still.

There are times in our lives when sitting still is the best thing we can do. We listen to light and darkness coming from the depths of our beings. We can be thankful for all of it.

As much as it shocks us, we are not always right about everything that happens in life. That is more than just okay. That’s great. The opportunity to be mortal — to make mistakes and say we were wrong — puts more light in life. Not just in our own lives. In all of life.

There was a time a dozen or more years ago when I was relatively new at a job. My manager and I met with our department director to try to figure out a problem. As we talked it through, clarity struck. I looked at them both and told them I was wrong. They jolted upright in their chairs, looked at each other and then at me. I told them what I had done wrong and what I had to change to get the correct results.

I smiled at them, happy to know that we could move forward.

They looked at me as if I were mad. I was new to a corporation where people simply did not admit making mistakes. Once I had broken the ice, it gradually became an okay thing to do.

Somebody else had taught me how to admit to making mistakes. I was shown how that makes me stronger. That it eliminates a piece of darkness in my soul. A bit more light shines.

Our world incorrectly thinks it’s in a tough time.

Yes, there is a worldwide epidemic. On top of wars, starvation and all of the other problems we live with every day. There is an answer.

We can listen to inner and external wisdom.

It helps me to turn on the CBC every morning to listen to the radio show of Julie Nesrallah, the Canadian opera singer and radio host. When Julie Nesrallah — or the Rolling Stones, K-Pop, Garth Brooks or whoever floats your boat — brings some of their joy into your life, go with it!

Feel yourself straighten up.

Get your wings ready.

Fly.