Heavy Freight Batons

They should do a top ten list of things you should and should not pass down to your kids, grandchildren, nieces/nephews and so forth. I can’t wait so, if I may, here’s a list of the things I don’t want to bequeath unto my descendants:

  1. My tardy addiction
  2. My irregular flossing pattern
  3. The “I don’t cook” quality
  4. Loose financial management
  5. (regrettably) Occasional Use the “N” Word
  6. Tendency to hold a scorecard of wrongs
  7. Propensity for writing people off who fail to show compassion
  8. Struggle to concentrate on one thing at a time
  9. Procrastination
  10. Cowardly yellow when it comes to putting faith in action

That’s the bad ten – the batons I’d just as soon keep out of the family relay if you can dig what I’m saying. It took years to ignore good advice, cultivate unproductive character traits and master them. Conversely, the likes of my mother, grandparents and a host of admirable elders have relinquished the stick in tremendously flawless form. In Track-and-Field the pass and what’s being passed bear indescribable significance. I’m about ready to run my leg but here’s what’s in the exchange:

  1. Loyalty
  2. No excuses (courtesy of my grandmothers who’ve bravely battled cancer, abandonment and suffered the deaths of their own children)
  3. Praise is an uncomfortable garmenty like my wife’s sweater that’s too small and I just want to hurry up and take it off
  4. Realization that none of us are above both giving and receiving
  5. No strings attached is the only way to give and receive
  6. God is THE  non-negotiable and perennial sovereign beyond human affairs. He is neither trivial nor inconsequential
  7. Absolute control over an adult is mythical but patience begets influence
  8. A smile like mom’s at the sound of your son/daughter’s voice
  9. No harm in an early start to a long day
  10. The true you always and if they cringe at the sight, it’s a great conversation starter

I never really thought of life as a relay but if the analogy holds, I don’t know what’s more vital, the hand-off or the materials from which the baton was made. There’s me and then there are the legs that follow. The baton is about all I control.

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Category: Character