Aaron Welty This is a place I never expected to be, a story I never expected to live so soon. The morning after my parents called to tell me my Aunt had died, back in January, I started writing. This is the eulogy I couldn’t bring myself to offer as we sat at her funeral…
It’s been years since I’ve been able to write – and wonder – in this space. It’s taken both time and patience to resurrect it (particularly without a Lazarus Pit) . Fortunately, as Tolstoy observed in War and Peace – time and patience are the strongest warriors. But fostering Patience in a time of instant gratification has become a lost art. All the more contrasted in a time of slowness and solitude amidst COVID-19 cautiousness…
Crisis. A word with multiple meanings and mental images. Insurmountable problems. Impossible decisions. Arresting cable news headlines meant to capture attention.
My personal favorite? DC Comics superhero-crossover events. More recently seen in the CW’s Arrowverse “Crisis on Infinite Earths”.
Many are beginning to feel personal interpretations in this cultural moment due to COVID-19. We wonder if this might become commonplace. If partial, and personal, inconveniences may become more permanent. Unfortunately, media – be it news or social platforms – often exacerbate this.
Pondering the moment we’re in, I keep returning to a thought I’ve had recently. When your daily life is consistently one of difficulty and challenge, communal crisis catapults culture into catching up to where you live.
I never thought the lives of George Baily and Clark Kent might cross the streams of commonality, tuns out I was wrong.
The breeze passed through the tree trunks below, unhindered, as the sun shined through the canopy and myriad of voices were heard amongst the surrounding; some above, some below. Some encouraging, some concerned for their own safety. In the midst of a darkened metal space one thought pushed out all the rest: “I will not fear; fear is the mind killer, fear is the little death that brings total annihilation. I will face my fear, I will let my fear pass though me so that when it is gone only I will remain”. Repeated. Over, and over and over again as one unstable foot tried to slowly slide its way along; a first step into a larger world, in this case a much higher world. The wood beam, the ropes, could they be trusted when paired with a sense of balance so bad? Maybe, just maybe.
Off to one side, a foot misses and the spiral begins. Suddenly downward movement occurs and the steel wire is at eye level and uncontrolled forward momentum is toward a awaiting tree is suddenly arrested.. Down below there is nothing; above, the canopy and the steel line connected to the harness. Rest, just rest; don’t freak out. Stuck in the middle only able to go forward; but how? If Spider-Man where here he’s just web-swing his way out; not an option. Legs? Dead weight…
As a kid, I distinctly remember an episode of Adventures in Odyssey that involved the character Lucy Cunningham-Shultz competing in a Bible Quiz competition. She loses the contest but it was the material that she flubbed that stuck with me, 1 Thessalonians 4:11 “…make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you”. In recent years these words have taken on new significance as I’ve realized I have a wonderful example of this in real life – my Dad.
Growing up, I watched a lot of films from Disney Animation studios that have long been considered classics. While Lion King stands head and shoulders above the rest of the Pride, Scar was never my favorite villain (most of whom I didn’t like). No that honor wants went to another character from a much older film, a villain who long lived up to her name: Maleficent.
I recently spent a sunny afternoon on my parents back porch with a glass of green tea and an unopened box of Star Wars LEGOs, intent on a lazy afternoon. I got more than that as my mind drifted between “Everything is Awesome” on repeat and life lessons as I was building.
In 1989, one Robert Zemeckis led many of us to believe that by the year 2015 Mattel would give the world hover-boards. Even though there is still time left to make good on that, it hasn’t happened yet. Neither has flying cars or jet-packs. Well, it turns out I might have been wrong about the jet-pack, a valuable lesson I recently learned.
Author, Speaker, and Super Nerd. Aaron Welty speaks and writes regularly connecting the dots of life, faith, and science fiction. Originally from Michigan, he now lives and works in the Washington, DC metro area.