Change
Photograph by: K. Alan Lewis
In youth we stand strong in our convictions
With passions and beliefs we hold so dear.
We stand solid firm in a warrior-like fashion
Declaring with strength the path that seems clear.
One day, though, we awaken
To notice a change has taken place:
We have grown a little older, and life
And all its passions are not so clear.
~Viola Jaynes
Viola, I found myself reading this several times. It is an exceptional write. When we are young we feel invisible like nothing can touch us. We are 18 and we know it all. Our parents know nothing. It isn’t until we are an adult do we look back on our life and realize that life wasn’t what we had anticipated. I can’t give you an award here for this, but feel free to add the one given to you at TW.
Comment by Rose — July 17, 2008 @ 3:20 pm
Rose, you are so sweet and kind. Age is a funny thing. I think it re-teaches us many things. Thank you very much!
Comment by Viola Jaynes — July 17, 2008 @ 6:34 pm
Viola, Just like Rose, It’s amazing how you could pack so much thought-provoking meaning into eight lines of text. I think back over my life and see your poem in action. During my childhood, through undergraduate college, and even some years after college, I felt quite confident that things were “just so,” very “black and white,” and life could be put into very precise categories. As I left my 20′s, I quickly realized that life is very much “grey” and that things couldn’t be categorized so easily.
I am currently in Tallahassee with my friend who recently completed his Doctorate degree at Florida State University. He and I have discussed your poem at length this morning – both arriving at your same thoughts. He said that a professor of his told the to-be grads that in graduate education, we “take the top off of your head, remove all that you have learned, and let you put it back into your head, organized in a better – and different way.”
So true.
Well, done, Viola. And thanks for the tag on my photo!
Comment by KAL — July 18, 2008 @ 1:33 pm
By the way, my comment above was supposed to begin reading:
“Viola, Just like Rose, I have read and re-read your poem this morning.”
Bad editing on my part!
Comment by KAL — July 18, 2008 @ 1:36 pm
Kal, your comment has meant so much to me today. Thank you very much! Have a wonderful time while away.
Comment by Viola Jaynes — July 18, 2008 @ 5:00 pm
Dear Viola, Thank you so much for your good words today at my Forgiveness post. I’m always so happy to read new visitors.
Your post here reminds me so much of what happened with my son. Passion and b/w opinions were is companions in his early 20s. Now in his late 20s and with life having offered up some serious challenges, passion is still passion but b/w has now evolved to clarity of belief and a softening for the opinions of others. This has made him a stronger and more compassionate person.
I’m sure this evolution in growth is common to most people, the trick is to embrace it so that we DO evolve and grow.
Comment by Annie — July 19, 2008 @ 7:25 pm
Annie, it was a pleasure to visit your blog and I just added you to my blogroll.
Comment by Viola Jaynes — July 19, 2008 @ 7:45 pm