Two Realities And Two Fantasies

A Poem for Kathy When we meet it is not by design, nor is it by accident. The question is by what third factor do we meet? This is puzzling, and it has stumped minds more supple and clever than ours. In fact, we have become celebrities of sorts among those agents of society who endeavor to make sense of modern life. They have that lean and hungry look, have no sense of style or fashion, rarely display any sign of inner pleasure other than utter contempt for people -like us - who trouble them by raising conundrums. Meanwhile, we continue to meet, cross paths, find ourselves in the same place without design or accident. Life can be that neatly messy. Or so the agents say. We talk about other things, laugh a lot, and our smiles abound. It's a simple life. First Fantasy But you might turn this situation to your advantage career-wise. It will involve Space Travel, Einstein's calculations, zero-gravity, artificial- gravity, mental-gravity... and a whole new wardrobe. Because you will become an astronaut! The training will be a spring breeze, your assignment will arrive before the seasons change. You will follow traces of cosmic hope embodied in a faster-than-light-speed space ship that knows exactly where you should be, namely, a planet in orbit around the star, Proxima Centauri. It has taken six years to reach this teeming colony. You arrive at this Einstein-world younger than you were when you departed earth in 20xx. You had already added some stylish decorations to the dreary astronaut jump suit. Now you add panache to routine attire and decorate dull chambers with glittering things. Both male and female astronauts are astonished, they applaud each morning your arrival with new ideas. One of the agents, in a state of elation that did not stem from a space walk, gushed, Gosh, we're beautiful up here! Second Fantasy OK, you hesitate to become an astronaut even in make believe, so stay on earth and find your adventure as a fashion consultant for a Big Business run by indispensable men, with big salaries and even bigger egos. The Big Boss greets you on your first day, Well, Kathy, we expect great things from you. Your references - and on he goes, and you notice an oddity no one mentions: his left arm is stretched straight up. It is holding a seven-foot pole which supports the tottering GLASS CEILING. All of the male employees are so encumbered, because they crave the prestige of working under a GLASS CEILING. One of the younger male managers tells you, We don't need our left hands, because we do genius work with only our right hand. Even as he spoke, he was dancing to balance his pole... But on a day, not too soon and and not too late, the wobbly GLASS CEILING collapsed. You and your sisters watched it fall and shatter into glittering shards. Then women emerged from everywhere and took charge of the genius business without any fuss. The disgraced male employees sued the federal government for jobs. But some stayed behind, sifting through the debris, trying to piece together a mosaic of privilege out of broken glass. Their hands were horribly lacerated, and their trophy wives were filing for divorce, some even applying for their estranged husbands'jobs. Second Reality So be the mistress of your life, choose in your own time the existence which best matches your Inner Self. Consider things that matter. The element of goodness will take care of itself, arriving as you arrive, prospering as you prosper. The element of truth you can leave to God: He knows best what is best, for you, for them, for all of us. That means beauty remains: make beauty your goal, increase its volume and shapes in our lives, make our lives shine with a daily beauty, start with things of simple elegance: a pair of earrings with delicate tear-drop hangings poised to fall; a maroon scarf that splashes color on a gray sweater; a peach blouse that echoes the color of early twilight. Of all the wonders of life, beauty is the most obvious but also the most elusive. It is a blessed state of being, because it brings forth only love, and it speaks only in kindness, as if happiness were within our grasp each and every day.