Monday, March 21, 2011

walking away is easy

Morning recess during most of my elementary school years was never too much fun. At best it was a break from the classroom. Kamehameha III School in Lahaina (a.k.a. The Uku farm) was so crowded that the older students didn’t use the playground during recess. We all walked across the street to Malu Ulu Olele Park. There we were expected to amuse ourselves for a half hour or so. The park had baseball diamonds and a basketball court. There was lots of wide open space and no playground equipment. I got in trouble once for allegedly climbing a small tree. All I was doing was stepping around it on the exposed roots but the student patrol snitch must have been bored.
One morning when I was probably in the fourth grade I walked along the back of a set of bleachers that faced a baseball diamond. Some girls were playing bingo. I watched one girl dispensing the bingo chips from what looked like an oversize toothpaste tube. Before she popped out the next one I called it. I don’t remember what I said. Perhaps I said I-23 or something but then the girl drew it out and read it and I was correct. One girl giggled and another looked horrorstruck at me.
Right at that moment I should have winked and nodded and walked away. But I tried again and of course got it wrong.
My blog entry last week got the most hits of any blog I’ve written. When Prajna and I were first dating one thing that made her different was she was unimpressed by my poetry. She liked my blog last week enough to repost it. Last week’s blog was like calling a lucky shot for me and I have been nervous about trying to follow it. For some reason I felt like I should just never blog again and leave the world dazzled. But I realized that my post wasn’t nearly as impressive as calling the bingo number. I had been wanting to tell the story of the whale and the sunset for a long time and then when the tsunami happened along with the scary world situation I thought about the world we are standing on. I really wanted to share a positive story with some hope in it. It was a good piece. But the best writings I have saved are ones where I felt inspired by God. So I’ve connected my blogging to luck when it is actually this: When my blogs really shine is when I’m being prayerful and follow God’s direction.
I turned this story over in my head this morning and I thought of something I had never considered before. How cool would it have been if I had correctly guessed the second bingo chip. At least I tried. I should still be more like that today.

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