Inspiration Boulevard

Success and Phenomena

Phenomena: something remarkable, exceptional, wondrous.

                                  Random House Dictionary, 2006

Twelve years ago, when I was a girl of seventeen, my mother and father took Lindsey and Tommee and me to Arkadelphia, Arkansas for one reason, to realize all the wonders of their alma mater Ouachita University. 

Wonder-full it most certainly was!  I met students from Pumpkin Bend to Timbuktu, professors with names like Buckelew, and went waterskiing every day we were there.  As far as colleges go, I couldn't ask for more!!!

Somewhere along the way, between enrollment and graduation, I met a group or two of folks who, like me, had an uncanny affection for words.  But unlike holly-go-lightly me, these people didn't just like words, they were professionals, teachers and their protégés who ate, drank, and breathed WORDS.  Though many may have perceived this quirky circle of friends to be an endearing bunch of crackerjack caricatures, as far as I was concerned, these guys were like real wordsmiths.  They could make magic out of words, spin them into submission, or at the very least see things in them music I had never known existed. 

In one sense, I loved these kindred spirits.  They understood me!  In another sense, I was sorely disappointed that the secret world of words wasn’t just mine.  (Note well:  this is what happens when you only read dead writers all through your childhood.)  Plus, modern day wordsmiths are considered authorities as far as words are concerned, yes?  This was a hard blow for me.  The only way I could reconcile these lessons I had learned was to have the ringleaders find me electric.  This absolute need for the ringleaders’ approval was borderline tortuous. 

So strange in retrospect to realize as I was reading the gods of American Literature’s most valuable teachings, so much on self-approval, mine was ball-and-chained to these others’ opinions!  And how liberating it has been to experience success both in the private chambers of my heart, and in the workforce, never caring who does or does not acknowledge it.  Even as a distance runner, I don’t compete against the other runners; I compete against myself.        

Is it possible to have opinions based solely on one’s own thoughts and experiences, withstanding outside influence?  Very, very rarely, but, yes so it is.  Is it possible to approve of one’s self with or without the approval of others whom you respect?  Over time, ABSOLUTELY!!!  I wish I could dissect exactly how, so I’d have the formula on hand for my children.  I guess the neatest of phenomena are to remain just that: remarkable, exceptional; wondrous.