September 9, 2022
Dear Friends,
As many of you may have noticed, you did not get a letter from me last week. The logical assumption is that I was away or as some people called it, I escaped for a week. The assumption for once would be true. A week off from writing is a chance to reboot one’s brain and how they view the world. The past month or so, I feel that the wisdom and whimsy had wandered off into a far corner of my mind and there was a slightly more rant style to my writing (which was never supposed to be the purpose of these letters).
Last week gave me a chance to shift my perspective. I feel like it was ages ago, perhaps in one of these letters or maybe a homily, I quoted the movie Zombieland. I know a title like that does not really seem like a life lesson movie. The reality is, it isn’t really. The main character has a list of tips to survive Zombieland. As the movie progresses, we find out more and more of the rules. The end of the movie sees him adding one last rule to the survival of Zombieland, Enjoy the little things.
That’s what I did while I was away. While you may be too busy for travel or your travel was more stressful than you planned, there is something simple about the rule. Enjoying the little things is huge. While I was away, I was traveling with my friends and their 10-year-old. There is nothing like viewing the world from the eyes of a child. The excitement at a rock or stick, the awe in seeing lots of puppies or dogs and wanting to pet them all (that is not just a 10-year-old thing though). It helps to reshape our perspective.
While I am not 10, although someone in the office says I behave like a child at times (well more than one person), but that is not the point, I think? Sometimes we need to look at the world through from the perspective of a child. See joy in the world around us. Do not be focused on the map leading you from Point A to Point B. How often when you are driving with someone do you look at the road around us to see things or is your focus on your phone, book or other cars around us?
It’s the journey not the destination, is a phrase oft quoted by people. I think it is something that we have forgotten. So that is this week’s wisdom. Look at things through the eyes of a child. Enjoy the journey. And lastly, don’t be a jerk. I know, that seems like it came out of nowhere and it is not the jaded side of me speaking. We saw in the news yesterday the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. For all the good stories, the bad almost equal it. From comments by an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon, to things said on twitter about Harry & Meghan. People are forgetting what it is like to be nice and support a family, even a country, in mourning. So that is my final bit of wisdom. Enjoy the little things. Enjoy the destination. Be nice.
God Bless,
Fr. Brian
P.S. Since I know some of you just need to roll your eyes and I groaned myself: Why can’t Catholics travel at light speed? Because they have mass.