Shaping Our Lives

For much of his youth, Babe Ruth lived at an orphanage for boys. It was there where he learned to play baseball.  For several months when he was 11, Charles Dickens stuck labels on bottles. He would later draw from this experience in writing several of his greatest novels, including "Bleak House" and "Great Expectations." While a young parent, L. Frank Baum put his kids to bed by telling them stories of a young farm girl and her adventures with such charcaters as witches, a lovestruck tin man and a cowardly lion. Like those three giants, all of us have experiences that ultimately shape our lives. While we may not always know which of our experiences will have the most influence, it is inevitable that the seeds of what we ultimately do and become come from some part of our loves.

Given that, it is clear that any period or even moment of our lives can be either the one or part of what we draw from when deciding upon the trajectory of our lives. For instance, writing this particular blog entry could be that moment for me. For another, say a teenage girl with a dynamic high school chemistry teacher, could become a famous chemist as a result of the enjoyment they derive from how well their chemistry teacher teaches. Examples abound. For others, the trigger could even be the way and how well those around them communicate that shapes how as adults they interact with others.

This is not such a crazy notion. After all, communication is a non-stop swirl around us. Further, along with breathing, it is the one act we ourselves never stop doing. Obviously, other variables contribute to the shaping of our lives. But without question communication is a key component in determining how we turn out. This, then, is one more reason why we need to pay attention to how those around us engage with each other along with the impact of that activity. You can bet at some point what we experience and observe will leave a heavy mark on us. Communication, then, does matter. Let us hope it does so in all ways that are good.