What should you, as an 80-year-old, tell your 8-year-old self?
Denzel Washington has been posting Facebook reels with some encouraging messages. These messages are almost the same ones that Cat Stevens included in a recent song with his return to pop music.
Looking back, it is easy to point out how things could be different if we made other decisions in our younger years. We can always look back at the mistakes and bad choices that we have made. But how would we know that? What have we missed? Do we go wandering through life’s wilderness without a good sense of direction? Or wonder where we got lost? Where did we make the wrong decision? Did we find the right career?
These are things to ponder about. A few people can boldly state that they found the right niche. You can accomplish much if you have the bold determination to do it and to do it right. Sometimes it may take finding the right marriage partner. Sometimes that can be a blessing or a boat anchor.
Life is a mystery. We never know where it will lead. Looking back, I know that I have taken many miscues, wrong turns, and detours, and wondered where I went wrong. Do I need a career change? If so, how hard can that be? Am I on the right track? Or am I on a train that is about to derail?
Sometimes change is forced on us. Thinking back to the 1990s, here in Wausau, Wisconsin, many thought that if you worked for Wausau Insurance Companies, you were going places. Your job, if you did it well, was safe and secure. After all, this company was a prime sponsor for 60 Minutes! How could it fail?
Then it happened. The company was in default. Liberty Mutual merged with it, and some high-level personnel had to find other things. Others were encouraged to transfer to Liberty’s headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. Outside forces in the economy can and do cause change. Those who could find other jobs did so. For some, this meant a career change, and for those near retirement, you know.
Opportunities do exist for those who are capable of making the change. I remember Denzel Washington's character in the Civil War epic “Glory”. He was a runaway slave before enlisting with the Massachusetts state militia and therefore into the Union Army. He first made a protest against the payroll discrepancy. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw would resolve that by volunteering not to take any pay for service. The soldier that Washington’s character had later disappeared to raid a nearby farm for shoes. He was whipped for that, even though his Sergeant was afraid to do so at first because of his scars.
This young man was disciplined by his squad leader and became a good soldier so much that Colonel Shaw requested that he carry the flag for the 54th during the assault on Fort Wagner. Changes like that do happen. Sometimes, that is how good leaders come into authority.
Colonel Shaw was a natural-born leader. With the support of his best friend, he whipped a group of escaped slaves and freedmen into a bold and brilliant fighting force that charged, against all odds, to take Fort Wagner or at least die trying.
Good teachers are examples of encouragement. They see the potential in some students. They then do their best to support and encourage that student to help them succeed.
Another example comes from sports, especially with coaches. Growing up in Wisconsin, I often heard from a man who had an incredible gift to motivate the players on his team to go out onto the field and win games.
He was the much-quoted man who said that winning wasn’t just the main thing, it was “the only thing!” You guessed it! He was Vince Lombardi! As a Roman Catholic, Lombardi was also a man of deep faith. God was important to him, and he also encouraged his team members to take time for worship.
We all need some encouragement at different times in our lives.
