The Cat’s Fur

There’s no easy starting over once you’ve passed a point in life;
You can’t pick up easy pieces once you taken Brutus’ knife;
Once you’ve been in kindergarten moved along to upper grades,
There is no starting at the bottom, seems your path in life’s been laid.

We all start out with a time-span ’bout the same at starting-block;
But our time-span curve’s diverging by the time we start to talk;
Maybe sooner, maybe later, as we take the vista in,
But there is no starting over as we adult life begin.

“Hey – I had this little puzzle which I could not quickly solve,
So I took it to two teachers and they showed me what’s involved;
All the other students wondered why I let it get to me;
Mathematics is my forte, where in life I’d like to be.”

In that anecdote I hear him on a curve that’s rising up;
In his area of focus he craves puzzles that are tough;
I recall as junior-leader at a kids’ camp as a teen,
Asking questions, like you, Jesus, seeking what the elders mean.

Paul said, “Stu, you were quite different, asking questions, pushing back;
You’d no use for childish answers once you’d gained the adult track;
You were lucky, you had parents who allowed you to grow up,
Ask those million-dollar questions, face the storm when things got tough”.

Dad said, “Move on from the answers which by no means satisfy,
But don’t walk away from questions, or inside you’ll start to die;
You don’t have to wreck the answers others use to cope with life,
But you’d better face your questions raised by mystery and night.

“Do not ever laugh at answers which have brought you to this point,
Just be slow to crown them princes, with authority anoint;
Truth won’t yield to human reason, force, or systems in the sun –
Ask this question – ‘Where will you be when your years on earth are done?’

“We can’t feature all the models in our showrooms full of cars,
So be honest, straight, and forthright – be the best of what you are;
Let competitors in products, service, ways of doing life,
Live their lives out in the sunshine – celebrate what they get right.

“Life is full of little secrets which unfold before our eyes;
There are mysteries aplenty bringing depth to our surprise;
There are mountains needing climbing; depths of seas which beckon forth;
In the south folks’ lives are structured, it’s much looser in the north.

“So just find where you like living, in the geo-social sense;
Find a way to live your life out; ask the meaning of each fence;
Learn from all whose thought has merit; don’t let others you dissuade;
When you gain a different viewpoint, see if others you can sway.”

That’s a part of what dad told me as I grew to be a man;
I see now my different culture helped me see the things I can;
I’ve been blessed with this beginning, like the fur upon my cat –
Pointed in the right direction, I’ve been soothed by each new pat.

Other kids were not so lucky, “Rubs my fur the wrong way, Stu;
When I ask my troubled questions, they say, ‘Silence – my will do’;
‘You must learn to buckle under’; ‘You’re a woman’, ‘black’, or ‘wimp’;
‘You are dumber than a carrot ’; ‘Tow the line’; and, ‘Do not think’.”

But I now see one more aspect of our moving on through time –
There’s a curve to our awareness – rising rather fast is mine;
Not as fast as some I’ve witnessed, though much faster than the rest;
Dad said, “Take what’s given to you, with your toolset do your best.

“Like that prodigy of childhood swinging on that pirate’s rope;
Or the one who made his music sound so sweet as feelings spoke;
Or that player who made baskets with a ball at six foot eight –
It’s not gift you have at starting, it’s the attitude you take.”

Now I see maturing slowly, getting there, arriving late,
Fits the task which I was given – gave me time to cogitate;
But I realize an aspect I’d not noticed much before –
I can’t do that early process – there’s no handle on door.

I was happy to come up here, view the scene from this new height;
Loss of detail seen in childhood was replaced with broader sight
Of some larger chunks of detail – same in number, bigger parts,
But I failed to see the door close – it’s one-way once rising starts.

Jesus said, “Be like the children” and “You must be born again”,
But that’s not about the detail, (once we’re up, we there remain);
It means, “Turn and face your newness; keep on looking up, my friend;
Be more child-like in new strata; push on up until the end.”

That says lots about our project – other gifts and other spans
Plugging into pirate structure – boosting them as best we can;
It says lots about our neighbors, friends, and colleagues on the way,
As we help them gain their footing when they’ve slipped – “Move up”, I’d say.

And it speaks to raising children – helping kids to enter life,
Each an adult fit to journey with their tool-kits working right –
Feed their minds; encourage questions; help them rise up to their best;
When they travel from their childhood may this gift some others bless.

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