What is greatness, but
A tree on earnest soil,
roots of reverence —
long limbs’ labors limitless,
largely spent honing its heart?
Looking to the sky . . .
yearning to find a way up
without letting go,
deeply desiring to dream
and to be dreamt of in art.
reach down through the earth . . .
never stopping, never cease!
Break the foundation,
probing paths for prospective
propagations to start.
Cultivate —
communicate —
Reflection.
Reverence.
Growth.
And here I am again, doing the hard work.
Of course, I never meant for this blog to hibernate, coming back to find so many lost to the donnybrooks of the past several years — the politics and pandemic, so many things that left a bad taste in my mouth and left my mind feeling infertile. I really wish people could just work together to make the world a better place for everyone. Looking back, I believe that in response to these growing situations I stopped trying. I stopped putting down my creative roots to take care of a growing rot in my life, and by the time I had it squared away I had forgotten that I had put my writing in the backseat, and it is so hard getting back to it.
I DESERVE TO BE GREAT.
That is my mantra, which a fellow blogger inspired me to formulate. I had almost forgotten: that is why I moved forward with my plan to change my life in the first place. Not that I feel so great all the time . . . rather, I feel more precarious than ever at times, and I hesitate to move on opportunities because I don’t want to lose out on what I already have, or because I find the process uncomfortable. But I deserve to be great, and I need to aspire to be great in the things I do for this world — locally, and globally. I need to stick my neck out in very real ways if I want to help.
So yes, I DESERVE TO BE GREAT. But “being great” doesn’t happen by itself. I have to make the choices. I have to push for making decent choices, professional decisions . . . to do the right things in life.
Is this what I’m supposed to put on the table when I’m interviewing for a position in the patrol division? It sure sounds good, but I’d really have to sell it. I have to internalize it. Because I do deserve to be great. But I have to make it happen; nobody is going to hand me greatness on a fancy plate because I don’t deserve it for free. We work for everything and we get what we pay for in sweat and blood and honesty.
I keep trying. I keep moving forward, and I’m not perfect. I make a poor judgment call here and there. Even those times are a bridge to being great, and becoming greater still.
We all deserve to be great, don’t we?
Rob's Surf Report 