Just a Thought: What is missing?
By Steve Walker
Recently I was watching an old
episode of “Touched by an Angel,” which was one of my favorite TV shows in the
nineties. I tape the series on the Up Channel.
In the past I have written a number
of columns referencing a few of those episodes for La Prensa. It got me
thinking once again.
I caught myself wondering why some
well thought out plans for the starting of a business or a career change or
pending details of an anticipated marriage/relationship falls shorts of the
mark. Could there be a missing ingredient in the equation that makes the
difference between success and failure?
Have you ever sat down and put pencil
to paper to devise a marketing strategy that will make your life’s financial or
personal aspirations come to fruition only to realize again that something is
missing to ensure your success?
What about that steak you cooked but
miscalculated by not putting the right seasoning on it to make it taste just
like you liked it? Missing an ingredient?
As I grow older (69 September 5th)
and hopefully wiser, I have posed the question many times, “What is missing in
my life?” I know I am not alone as there are many others of all ages who ask
the same question. At this juncture in my advanced years, one would think by
now I would have figured out life’s missing ingredient for a successful and
productive life.
But then again some of us are slower
than others when it comes to decisions that can be life changing for the better
rather than the worse. For a few of us who are oblivious to our surroundings
due to an apparent bout of attention deficit or an inability to concentrate on
one thing at a time, we fail.
Obviously many of us are unable to
deal with the challenges we face in this life or interpret them correctly for
our benefit as we progress in life. The English Playwright William Shakespeare
once wrote in one of his plays, “To Thine Own Self Be True.” There are days
when I still attempt to fully embrace that one. I contemplate the true part and
sometimes get confused as I search for what is actually “true,” as compared to
the alternative. Again it is about the missing ingredient.
As a trained journalist who claims to
be able to know the difference, it is still difficult for me to get it right.
Growing up I was bombarded with
comments like, “one of these days you will hopefully figure it out and make
something of yourself before it is too late.” My father’s prognostications were
not too positive as I struggled to survive my formative years and especially
the teenage years and even into young adulthood. Apparently it is a lifelong
process. (Or so I have heard)
In past columns I have touched on how
my father, the nuns in Catholic school and others seemingly placed bets on the
eventual outcome of my future success in life or lack thereof. Fortunately for
me in most cases their conclusions were off the mark. I chalk it up to being a
late bloomer vs. their take. I forgive them.
All those years I felt there was a
missing ingredient. Others apparently thought so too as I was tagged on
occasion, as “one brick shy” “my elevator didn’t go all the way to the top,”
and “the lights are on but nobody is at home.”
But at the ripe old age of 68 and
holding, I believe I have finally discovered the missing ingredient I have been
looking for all these years and it was right in front of me, inspired by divine
revelation. It can be summarized in one simple word. The missing ingredient
is ‘faith.”
And as always, what I write is “Just
a Thought.”
Steve Walker is a Vietnam Veteran, former Judge and
Journalist
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