Yikes! I can listen to that phrase all day long and the meaning still eludes me. Once again, this past weekend, I watched Finding Forrester, a simple little movie – great to watch on a cold, cloudy, rainy Sunday afternoon. The concept of the movie is fairly straightforward – an intergenerational plot, a growing friendship, a coming of age for both main characters, with classic good versus evil activity. I’ve watched these types of movies before (Searching for Bobby Fischer, About a Boy, Mona Lisa Smile, Dead Poets Society), but I haven’t ever plucked out that one line that seems to be speaking to me in a bigger way.
“The rest of those who have gone before us cannot steady the unrest of those to follow.”
This weekend, a gentleman, age 89, died in my home town. I did not know him all that well; however, he was a neighbor many, many years ago and we were members of the same church. I know his children and grandchildren. My children know his children and grandchildren. I know his friends and acquaintances. In fact, it is fair to say that he knew quite a percentage of the folks in my small town, and people knew him. He made the world a better place working, spending a lifetime, at a local university as a faculty member. He used his mind to make my life better.
And today, I learned that a gentleman, age 81, – a friend of mine – died while living and working in Rome. He was devoted to working with those in need and did so throughout his career as a Catholic priest. Most recently, he was working at the Vatican’s North American College. Retirement was not in his vocabulary as I am quite sure that he didn’t think of himself as employed. More likely he thought of himself as busy on a day to day basis. And if I were asked to explain his work, my best description would be working to smooth out the path for me and those who follow.
“The rest of those who have gone before us cannot steady the unrest of those to follow.”
The list of folks who are ‘at rest’, who have gone before me, and who have added to the ease at which I live is endless. . . . Mother Teresa . . . Abraham Lincoln . . . Sacagawea . . . Mohandas Gandhi . . . Martin Luther King, Jr. . . . Susan B. Anthony . . . Pope John Paul II . . . the 89 year old . . . the 81 year old . . . all of my relatives and friends . . . Each person on my list has managed to make a difference, to leave an imprint, right a wrong, change the world. Each person on my list probably knew that they were changing the world, but humility in all things entered their pictures first. Their focus was on others, not on themselves.
And I suppose the big guess that all of them have left me with is whether or not I am capable of doing for others what they have done for me. Can I help bring world attention to poverty and suffering like Mother Teresa? Can I walk the footsteps of Lincoln and right the injustices of slavery by effectively leading a new and emerging nation? Or, like Sacagawea, can I change the nation’s view on the rights and status of women in a native culture? Or like the 89 and 81 year olds on my list, affect enough change that upon death, the world trembles? With each person on my list, the size of the shoes to fill increases exponentially beyond my comprehension.
“The rest of those who have gone before us cannot steady the unrest of those to follow.”
I guess in my piece of the world, I have to give up the expectation that the rest of those who have gone before me will steady me. It was not and should not be their intention to provide a worry-free atmosphere here on earth. It was not and should not be their plan to not only make the world a better place but to eliminate the need for my continued effort in the future. It was not and should not be their legacy to create worldly perfection.
Rather all is unsteady and I suppose that is the beauty of it all. It is natural for tomorrow to bring unrest. It is natural for tomorrow to bring uncertainty. And in my experience it is natural for tomorrow to bring more questions than yesterday had answers.
“The rest of those who have gone before us cannot steady the unrest of those to follow.”
Originally, I thought spending a Sunday afternoon watching a little known film while everyone around me was scrambling to complete a laundry list of chores was a bit brazen on my part. My body was telling me to jump up and dust something, but my mind was – as usual with this film – otherwise engaged.
I am not sure that I learned anything new; rather, I was once again pulled through a refresher on what I have always known. Changing the world isn’t easy, but it is doable. To top is off, changing the world is an expectation that I should have of myself; and, throughout my change the world journey, I best hold on tight as the ride – no matter how much fun it contains, how exciting it can truly be, and what I may or may not learn along the way – is going to be quite a rocky one.
A July moon resting in the summer sky.
Deborah Hutti 