Ponderings Again...

Part Two (043026)

Dear Fellow Hikers,

Well, It’s been about a month since I last wrote (I say this to remind you that your subscriptions to these letters are still active, and that when I said these letters would be occasional, I wasn’t kidding). In my last letter I asked that you consider some recent ponderings that were wandering through my mind. Specifically, I noted a couple excerpts from a Thomas Merton prayer. I hope you had some time to give them some thought.

As promised, here are some of my thoughts on the subject. First…Dan’sTranslation/Interpretation of the prayer excerpts:

“Nor do I really know myself” (Merton). “Who I am” (Dan)

“I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you” (Merton). “What I do” (Dan)

Second… These words have stuck in my mind from my early days in Law Enforcement, probably 40 some years ago. I was at a training event where an instructor said something to the effect: “It’s important to remember, Being a police officer isn’t who you are, it’s simply what you do.” I understand the point the instructor was trying to make, and I somewhat agree with it. And over the years as I started doing some instructing of my own, I often presented the same statement. However, I used it as an example of something I disagreed with. I believe that being a police officer is a calling, something a person has been created to do. And that if the job, what you do, isn’t also a part of who you are, it will be difficult to be successful and fulfilled by the extreme challenges of the job.

Third… I also believe that we’ve all been created with a calling of some sort, where we’ve been given certain gifts and abilities, through both Nature and Nurture. And that a big part of our lives, is to discover those gifts and abilities, and use them to discover our personal callings through our life experiences. Personally, as I continue my new adventures down the beginnings of my Elderhood Trail, and its unique new paths, one thing I’ve discovered is that Who I am and What I do are intimately connected.

That’s it for now, more later, occasionally…

With Care, Dan