I WAS LIKE YOU
I was like you, chasing the day to find my fulfillment. Dissecting the spaces between minutes for keys leading to success. Seeking my self-worth in the framed doors of events outside my control.
Occasionally they opened up into squares awash in flashing lights, alive with welcoming arms and reassuring smiles. But what I typically found were trails leading me further and further from myself — dimly lit hollow tunnels devoid of color and warmth, ending in dead ends of smooth walls, with no contours allowing me footholds or railings to climb to other levels.
At each of these points I had to walk back, head hanging, feet shuffling across terrain I’d already traveled. Every time returning to the point I’d started from, older and exhausted from wear.
Then somewhere along the way, I refused to go back. Waiting, for no particular reason other than not wishing to backtrack again. At first this was done out of sheer exhaustion, falling into a stupor of inaction while swimming in despair. But then I found I could rest there, regain my strength, and look anew upon my environment.
Each time I did this, I’d recover with an improved outlook, seeing details that were invisible to me before in my heightened state of anxiety. Cracks of light in what appeared to be impenetrable walls revealed hidden stairways. Taking a chance, I climbed. Reaching a new level, I strode cautiously forward — afraid of failure, but driven by a spark of optimism kindling within a long forgotten recess veiled in my past.
It was then I discovered the hallway of arches. Each opened up into sunlight. Each breathed warmth upon my face when I gazed through them. Each led to unconfined spaces, allowing realization of my own true purpose.
Then I opened my eyes to find I had not moved an inch. This space was always within me. What I had viewed earlier as doors needing keys were simply the illusion of my fear playing tricks upon my physical senses.
Now I begin each journey from within myself and propel my activities forward starting from success. I then direct myself into situations which I can influence. Situations that complement the thrust of my momentum.
WHAT IS WHINING?
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, eleventh edition, defines the verb “whine” as the act of uttering “a high-pitched plaintive or distressed cry” or complaining “with or as if with a whine”. It’s interesting the next defined word is “whinny”; I’ve certainly heard many a whine turn into a whinny when approaching the upper registers.
Whining is primarily an attribute associated with the immature. Young children, rock stars and CEOs utilize whining as an infantile means of communication. The presumption is they will eventually mature and learn better forms of communication — a better means of obtaining resources or attention.
When they don’t move on there are self-help manuals, counseling, and white-water rafting available to move erstwhile whiners into the mainstream of society. This, however, is often misguided, serving only to drive die-hard whiners underground. There they fume and fuss, perfecting their skills for the day they unleash their considerable arsenal of pent-up whining demands and observations on an unsuspecting, ignorant populace.
I myself was part of this secret-society of clandestine whiners. But one day I broke ranks. I just said “no”, I shall not continue disrespecting everything and everyone. I’ll be positive and optimistic. Life is a bowl of cherries so why should I continue to be a pit? But without a support group to do an intervention I quickly slipped from hope into a cesspool of pessimism.
I may be lost, but I’m resolved the least I can do is warn others. Provide some insight into the mind of a confirmed whiner so others will be able to recognize our kind and, armed with knowledge, resist our taunts and mad reasoning.
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