Tuesday, April 2, 2013

TAKE A BOW

Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.


(Aristotle)

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Hello Geo

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I enjoy the fact that when a player hits a home run into the stands in order to make the run count he must circle the infield touching each base before he crosses the home plate. His teammates are waiting for him for hugs and slaps, but all the way around he gets to hear the cheering crowd. It's one huge curtain call.



As an actor whenever I gave an exceptionally good performance I knew it, and the audience knew it. The applause at the end was like beautiful music to me. I felt not only approved of and accepted but also honored.



There may be no such thing as a perfect game or a perfect performance but there are excellent ones. And there is excellence in many arenas of life and human activity and when it occurs it should be acknowledged and honored.



But often it isn't. And when we don't get the cheers, applause, reimbursement, trophy, gold medal, blue ribbon,thank you note or handshake that we know we deserve, it's the time to look into ourselves to find the real reward, the knowledge of our own worth.



There is a difficult step to take from the approval of the crowd to the aloneness of realizing and appreciating ourselves in spite of all the things we know that are wrong about us. Insufficiency, disappointment, regret, dissatisfaction,loss, in short, failures, are just the shadows cast by the gold medal moments when we did something right and did it splendidly. Listen to the silent crowd and take a bow..

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Dana Bate

Vagabond Journeys

Never Give Up

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2 comments:

Jon said...

Let me applaud you for expressing this perfectly. You've given us a lot of food for thought.

Geo. said...

Beautiful, DB. However, the crowd inside my head and heart consists of those who taught me to do right --most, no longer living-- and they are anything but silent.