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MY SUNDAY JOURNAL
2-9-03
INSPIRING A SNAIL
Sometimes a would-be
writer of inspirational articles gets so low he can't inspire a snail.
My mother had a funny phrase she used when too many spaghetti-like
aggravations accumulated in one of her days. She'd say, "All the
circumstances got involved."
When I first tried to get up and get into my day today, all my
circumstances got involved. This little piece of spaghetti about a
friend in need, and that little strand of spaghetti about
"pre-emptive nuclear strikes" (pure insanity in high places),
a family member's dangerously high blood pressure, a little string of
the loneliness every single person feels at times, and a #2 wash tub of
other clusters of spaghetti trying to engulf my being.
At such a time, a person who writes inspirational pieces can get to
feeling like they are the one needing inspiration. Sparklea Tartanian
wrote an article years ago titled "Motivating the Motivator."
At the time I had over 30 departments under my supervision and had days
when I had to seek and find motivation before I could motivate the 800
employees in those departments. I still go back and read Sparklea's
words to crank up my motor on cold, sluggish mornings.
Then I saw a note in today's email from my dear friend, Karen. She told
me how the TIMES FREE PRESS column I did Friday resulted in a visit from
an old friend who read it, and how that visit infused her with loving
energy. Suddenly the snail in me moved wiggled those two little
antennae. Ahhhh, the sap rises in the snail.
Here's the situation I now see: we all have a snail in our soul, as well
as eagles and butterflies. When the eagles are roosting and the
butterflies are snoozing, we are the snail for a while. So what can we
do?
Doggone it, I know it's embarrassing but you've got to caress and love
the little guy. Let one of your friends tell him everything is going to
be all right. Go over and have a cup of coffee with your sister.
Sometimes her watermelon-sized heart will crank up the snail.
Feed the birds. Take a walk down to the lake and feed the ducks. Start
writing a book with the working title 2,873 Ways to Stimulate Your
Snail. Phone a couple of your favorite maniacs. Call the White House and
tell them you want Switzerland bombed and you mean right now! The only
way to wake up these bozos is to make them think we're crazier than they
are. Bless their hearts, they're snails, too.
Karen actually gave my little snail a full body massage! It feels like
it's sprouting some little wings. Reckon there's a butterfly in there
somewhere?
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