The baby peeks from under a cover, pulls the blanket down from her face, gurgles and smiles. Her proud father propels the stroller, loving every moment of the adoration heaped on his daughter by passersby. It won’t be long before the baby grows and spurns with disgust the childhood device that indicates babyhood.
A short distance away, in a retirement home, an elderly woman pushes a four-wheeled walker/stroller with excessive caution. When her family bought it for her, she set it aside, swearing she’d never use it. Now she’s afraid not to.
A child at the beginning of life eager to put her stroller days behind her. A woman nearing the end of hers delaying as long as possible acceptance of a brand new stroller.
Begin with a stroller, end with a stroller.
In between is what we call life!
How will we use those glorious days stretching from young to old?
We’ll go to school. We’ll find a profession. We’ll work hard or we won’t. We’ll exercise or we won’t. We’ll make mistakes. We’ll make some folks happy. We’ll hurt others. We’ll deal with setbacks. We’ll deal with losses. We’ll retire. We’ll grow old.
We’ll leave an imprint. We’ll impact the lives of others: family, friends, colleagues.
What kind of an imprint will it be?
So much depends on the choices we make as our mind grows from that of the child and develops into the patterns that define the person we are. Will we be kind, or judgmental, or cruel, or self-centered?
It matters a great deal what we are—to everyone with whom we interface.
Perhaps it is less important to us because, after all, we have chosen to be who we are.
But no matter what we make of ourselves, that stroller is waiting for us, and, while we’re pushing it along, we’ll have to live with the memories we’ve created.
A short distance away, in a retirement home, an elderly woman pushes a four-wheeled walker/stroller with excessive caution. When her family bought it for her, she set it aside, swearing she’d never use it. Now she’s afraid not to.
A child at the beginning of life eager to put her stroller days behind her. A woman nearing the end of hers delaying as long as possible acceptance of a brand new stroller.
Begin with a stroller, end with a stroller.
In between is what we call life!
How will we use those glorious days stretching from young to old?
We’ll go to school. We’ll find a profession. We’ll work hard or we won’t. We’ll exercise or we won’t. We’ll make mistakes. We’ll make some folks happy. We’ll hurt others. We’ll deal with setbacks. We’ll deal with losses. We’ll retire. We’ll grow old.
We’ll leave an imprint. We’ll impact the lives of others: family, friends, colleagues.
What kind of an imprint will it be?
So much depends on the choices we make as our mind grows from that of the child and develops into the patterns that define the person we are. Will we be kind, or judgmental, or cruel, or self-centered?
It matters a great deal what we are—to everyone with whom we interface.
Perhaps it is less important to us because, after all, we have chosen to be who we are.
But no matter what we make of ourselves, that stroller is waiting for us, and, while we’re pushing it along, we’ll have to live with the memories we’ve created.
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