Lazy Day

Lazy Day               

By John W. Vander Velden

Have you ever woken to the feeling that, though the whole world demands attention, it was a lazy day?  After months of hurrying along, prodded by the things that vitally need immediate attention, that one day, a day to just stop…might be deserved.  More than deserved, perhaps necessary to maintain the sanity required to pick up the load and charge once more.  Is life so much more hectic than or memories of days gone by, or do we make it so?  Surrounded by thousands of bits of technology, time savers we are told; yet that savings account remains overdrawn.  Life tugs continuously.  A cell phones means we are never out of reach.  Text messages find us no matter where we are.  In so many ways our time is demanded, as we hurry along the twisted road of our lives.  We reach day’s end not certain we have gained any ground whatsoever.  Knowing that tomorrow, in the maze once again, we hurry around new obstacles often unseen until we crash headlong in our haste.  It is good to be optimistic, to believe that solutions lie just beyond the next bend.  Hard work necessary, achievements possible.  Certainly others need our time and effort.  We do not deny, and we give our best.  So days rush by January suddenly becomes May and September but a blink behind.  Looking back, if we have the time, certain the year count flawed the number impossible.  Worthy perhaps but no “gold watch” gifted as we continue scurrying onward wondering when task’s demands fulfilled.

Is it wrong, for those of us past life’s mid, that we should find a few minutes or hours to step back and regroup?  Others might call it just being lazy.  But to those that have “paid our dues” and continue, time outside the “cooker”…earned!  Now as we race onward, a gear or two slower than years past, time needed to catch our breath, to clear our heads, and to rest our bones.  Today might seem a lazy day…but in truth it is anything but!

(343 Words)

The Whistler

The Whistler                             5-28-2012

By John W. Vander Velden

Many years ago, in the time before personal music players or even transistor radios, there was a man.   Jacob carried his own music; he was a whistler, and often notes could be heard loud and clear.  Times mending fence or weeding his crops, for the man worked alone, creating music most beautiful.  Seldom did familiar songs, a hymn perhaps, come from those well trained lips for Jacob’s music flowed from some place deep within. Melodies formed at the moment, tunes reflecting the current mood.  Often the notes short, bouncy, lively came to my ears, while other times slow deep tones flowed on the breeze.  In the distance one would know whether Jacob might be happy or sad.  How things have changed!  Does no one yet make music of their own?  Have we become so tied to “canned” tunes we have lost the desire…the need?  Perhaps we doubt our capabilities, concerned our talent so far from perfect it has no value.  I miss the days when Jacob would fetch his cows… I miss the whistler.

(176 Words)

Square Pegs

Square Pegs                            

By John W. Vander Velden

In a world that seems only comfortable with conformity, accepting those fitting familiar   But what of those that “march to the beat of another drum”?  In a world filled with round holes how do “square pegs” fit?  The different…the unique…the odd…what place do they belong?  Often a pointed finger…cruel words identify, dealing pain and criticism, as forward “square pegs” march, accomplishing things others thought impossible.  For most achievements and successes are reached by those with vision beyond present limits, able to see more than just the round holes.   Owed much, yet seldom does gratitude come to those who catch society’s fearful eye.  Is there not room for all?  Are not many of the “square pegs” extraordinary?  For surely standing apart requires great courage…yet allowing fresh perception…not having the numberless…the common…to block their view.  Where do you fit?  For our world is not filled with just “round pegs” or “square pegs”.  No, there are “oval pegs”, “triangular pegs” and all manner of other shapes.  For each person is unique.  Perhaps it is the fear of ridicule that drives so many to just blend in.  To find a safe place, invisible.  They can not be blamed, the pressures great to conform.  Yet if we look honestly at ourselves we would realize there is a bit of “square peg” in each of us…and in truth are better for it.
patterns, those doing familiar things in familiar ways, only those that look like others…talk like others…think like others…seem to fit in.

(259 Words)