Moments…

In light of an email I recently read which I received from my agent—which you can find on the representation tab of my website—I was moved to share the message with you. Moreover, it centered on a message I have heard time and time again; in fact, I have attempted to apply the aforementioned theme more aggressive as my life continues to move forward.

So without further delay the message was about “moments”. Furthermore the aim of the message was to encourage the reader to value the everyday moments of their lives more than they had prior to reading. Therefore, I was compelled to take a “moment” and share with you.

I am knowledgeable that we find ourselves busier than years before as the influence of “e-life” bombards our lives more than ever; consequently, consider life before “mobility” became more of an infringement than an influence. I chose influence because we can all decide whether or not an “influence” becomes a part of our lives directly or indirectly. For example, some have attributed the political climate to the sorrowful events that claimed the lives of innocent bystanders in recent headlines; however, I am a firm believer in choice. Therefore, I do not believe that anything dictates our lives unless we “chose” to allow it.

Moving forward to matriculate moments I digress to a more meaningful examination of my “blog”. The main purpose for this exposition was to ponder on the events in our lives that touch us on conscious as well as subconscious levels. For those of us who live in metropolitan areas or work in one, sometimes “moments” are hard to come by. We spend a great deal of our lives in traffic. In fact, we coined a term to “classify” our inability to be “human” and “switch modes” or in some circles “switch hats”. The term or phrase I am alluding to is “road rage”.

For a brief “moment” just remove yourself from your “device” by which you may be reading this and recall a moment that you created or experienced whether directly or indirectly where you or someone you observed “allowed” road rage to influence decisions in their personal lives. A husband or wife gets into an argument and has no idea how it originated, or a son or daughter—yes children are affected also—yells at a parent because the car ride home they felt ignored or neglect because you were too busy to even acknowledge them. I have seen that many times in children proud of a scholastic accomplishment and beaming with pride attempt to tell their story over and over just hoping a parent might share the same joy… BUT they tell the child to just be quiet and allow them to concentrate. Concentrate? As much as we all might hate to admit this but, if a business call or even a very important social call interrupted us just like the child did we would take the time to “concentrate” on them and ignore the child.

I want to change directions here. I spent sometime focusing on not acknowledging moments; I must follow suit with acknowledging moments. This is a personal anecdote that you may find boring or useless in your “e-life”; however, for me this “moment” will always put a smile on my face. I recall this past summer leaving a business meeting and coming to a stop at what might have seemed like a “regular-old” stop sign; however, after what transpired there I can no longer refer to it as such. There was a homeless man who asked me for money—I can feel someone clicking the close button as I type—which I normally don’t carry because I prefer debit transactions; however, quickly after I told him no I looked down on the passenger floor mat and grabbed the Gatorade I had for “later” and graciously gave it to him. Of course those of you who are still reading this are completely aware he needed that beverage more than any of us; however, the JOY with which he grasped that Gatorade brought me within tears. The way he clinched that Gatorade reminded me of what might occur if someone told us we were the new recipients of a billion dollar prize. Words could not express the JOY I felt from being able to “make his day”.

Consider for a “moment” if we just took one moment to make someone’s life. Because of my upbringing I ponder whether or not he was an angel commanded to be placed at that intersection of my life to “test” me. I pray you find yourself looking within to ponder the “moments” you may have missed for whatever reason. I am currently asking myself what moments have I made you miss reading this “long-winded”, “overly analytical” exposition of mine. I sincerely pray NONE!!!!

~~carving a statue of snow

Article by Brian Epps