Making, Watching, and Non-Fathoming of Things That Happen
One Common Adage ReCrafted
Of the thousands and millions of maxims humans have uncovered throughout the ages, for each of us many may strike our heart chords but still not sit too well in our deeper selves. So, we must take out our pens and highlighters to reconstruct the proverb’s various parts until new meanings flow out. Here is my critical dissection and examination of one such common proverb.
There are some people who make things happen. Some watch things happen. And then some say “What happened?”
Breaking this down and examining it to draw new meanings(while still valuing the common wisdom), I have recrafted to following.
There are times or situations in life when we are called to make things happen. During other seasons, we must watch things happen. And then there are those experiences and situations where we inadvertently find ourselves saying, “What happened.”
So what have I done here? Nothing too radical or groundbreaking. I (like many people I’ve talked to or great works I’ve read) have just found that each of us may react to circumstances or life events in ways that fall under all three categories described above. Each type of reaction or response is natural and appropriate for different situations or experiences life may bring. Many may ask “How might this be so?” Well, we can examine those below.
So we’ll start with the last part. Doesn’t life bring those moments to each of us where we say “How in Heaven’s name did this happen?”
This isn’t just those most horrible and unimaginable of occurrences like a young person hearing they have a horrible disease or a devastating natural disaster tearing a whole small community apart. It is also those common things that bring your whole day-to-day existence to the verge of chaos like the car that swerves a red light and hits you or the flu that decides to pay a visit just as you were looking forward to the holidays. Not only is acknowledging that shock and disarray reasonable, but critical. Let’s not forget that the vast majority of things in the Universe are beyond human control or understanding.
On the other side of the coin, each day brings unlimited riches and blessings that are beyond our comprehension and imagining. Summer days when the sun shines on our back as we tend to our gardens or yards. Cool Autumn evenings when the cool breeze creeps through windows and calms our resting selves snug under covers. Fun holiday dinners with family and friends. Road trips with family, friends, or just ourselves to explore quaint and magical places. These are just a few parts and parcels of life itself. Here, the reaction is “Wow thanks and praise be to the Divine for the blessings bestowed, what wondrous life is this?”
And then we can go to the middle part. Are there times when each of us must step back and just watch things happen?
Well, yes.
Daily, we have to step aside and refrain from acting in situations where we wish we could do something. How many times do we find ourselves stuck in traffic, delayed at the doctor’s office, or stuck in a meeting going overtime at work? Even if we have planned, showed up early, and done everything we could, we often just have to sit and wait. This is not just a virtue for things that may have to do with other humans not being in sync with our plans.
Overall life is messy and essentially unpredictable. We are often forced to accept and acknowledge circumstances beyond our control. This is the proactive form of standing back as some passive observer. An injured athlete is forced to sit on the bench all season, but he still strives to cheer on their teammates. A doctor must inform a patient that she cannot do anything further for the patient’s condition but does offer strategies for helping to mitigate the condition’s worst effects. A husband and wife find that their marriage is broken beyond repair, so they sadly agree to part ways but agree to remain close friends and to amicably co-parent their children. Life constantly throws us so many circumstances where we must not only sit back and watch things happen but actively accept and acknowledge those circumstances.
There are also numerous virtues correlated with sitting back and watching the Cosmos unfold around us, as we strive to rebalance ourselves and connect even more to what goes beyond us. Walking in a timber, lying on the beach and hearing the waves rising and falling at the beach, sitting beneath a tree and taking in all of the sights and sounds of Nature. When we tap into the world of worlds moving all around us, we realize there is nothing we have to make happen. Unlimited riches are unfolding already; innumerable happenings are never ceasing.
And finally, we go back to the primary part. This is the part so highly regarded(as is the essential theme of the proverb). This is the “get on your feet and make things happen” part (as the popular song lyrics go).
But just what form of making things happen do we value? Yes, the marathon runner winning first has accomplished an amazing feat. But what about the marathon runner coming in close to last who beat their previous time by many minutes? Yes, the star of the play must eloquently chant their lines from center stage. But the set director and stagehands keep the whole act moving without once coming under the spotlight.
There are many forms of stepping up and making things happen. All of these come in response to life giving each of us chances to do so. Sometimes those are calls to stand up and lead the team. Other times it is staying behind with one or few people who have fallen behind the team, giving them aid and motivation to stand up and keep going. Other times still, the call to act is in the form of showing up after all of the leaders and players have left, ready to clean and prepare the fields for future games.
So, many times life calls each of us to step up and act. Other times, the need is to step back, observe, accept, and acknowledge. Other times still, the natural response is to be in shock or wonder at events unfolding(whether they be numinous miracles or unimaginably dark events).
Discerning which of these responses life is calling us to take is a very hard task. And another thing is there may be other appropriate and necessary responses to different types of events or experiences. So how does one even know which response is appropriate when? Well, perhaps that is where the serenity prayer comes in. Wisdom will come in those indiscernible life moments when we are humble and open to receiving it.
