Playing Dodgeball in the Real World

We spend so many of your early years preparing to enter the real world, with no certain idea of what we will find there. At some point in our lives we arrive. What we discover is that the world of preparing for the real world and the real world have two things in common. In both venues, we are waiting for something to happen. Both places give one the sense that being there is like playing an endless game of dodgeball.

Truthfully, being a grownup is no more fun than being a kid. I don't get to do everything I want to do or be all the things I want to become. I have merely traded one set of boundaries and constraints for another, only now the cost of breaking the rules has certainly escalated. If one is so foolish as to paint oneself into a corner, one mus take full possession of having acted on some poor choices. And then one has to clean up the mess one has made. At least that is the case for those of us who are not born into privileged circumstances.

And life does feel like a dodgeball game. We make plans, we prepare and we do what we have to do to succeed. Just because we do all the right things to prepare ourselves guarantees nothing. Something completely random or unexpected can blindside us. In the real world, the level playing field is essentially a myth. One must acknowledge that there are certain people whom I call the "golden people." Such people are very talented and intellectually brilliant. They are focused and disciplined. It doesn't occur to them that they can or might stumble. In their mind, they are going to get what they set out to acquire. And they do, with some regular consistency. But for the rest of us, life is very often the stuff of avoiding some incoming dodgeball.

Exploring the many situations we might face or the reason life can be very challenging at this moment wouldn't be especially useful. I would just be pointing out situations and truths that most of already have learned the hard way.

I will say that the one option we can never exercise is to just give up. We will have moments in our lives which are redemptive, triumphant and wonderful. Hopefully, at such moments, we will be able to share those moments with someone dear to us. Our lives are really about those moments, even if such moments are precious and few.

So life is generally going to be a struggle. Oh, well! We should have figured out early on that it wasn't going to be a cake walk. At least there will be moments of clarity and triumph and joy for every one of us.