Cruise control off…to go faster…or slower?

I thought the beginning of the school year and the resulting schedule change with be a demarcation that would allow me to raise my energy and productivity, both in my work and personal life. Having the kids in bed an hour earlier and getting to work a half-hour early would seem to open up my day at bit, plus no soccer on Saturdays this fall. A chance to get off cruise-control and crank things up a notch.

And I do feel a bit freer, but nothing dramatic.

But instead of thinking just of me, I’ve found myself thinking about friends and acquaintances in challenging situations. Some situations I’ve been involved in, and others just a witness. Regardless, their combined struggles so closely grouped in time becomes greater than the whole.

When my son was in the hospital (twice in the last year), the people who came to visit him/us, or offer help really taught me a lesson about the value of reaching out in a time of need. And the pained regret of missing someone’s funeral last year was uncovered last night, making the realization that ‘cruise control’ is something that needs to be turned off sometimes…to slow down, not speed up.

When did it happen that we went our separate ways, that we stopped looking after each other? How is it that we forgot the still true warning of revolutionist pamphleteer Thomas Paine: “If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately”? –Big Picture Guy

Tonight I need to make a phone call.