Shoulders

When Melanie and Jennifer were toddlers, I often carried one or the other on my shoulders; usually the one who was tired, or walked too slowly. The view was better up there, and having fun with my hair or cap provided amusement. I don’t know who enjoyed it more. The first Thanksgiving Eve we could do so, we took them to the Annual Christmas Concert at Atlanta Rich’s department store on the Forsyth Street bridge.  Paige and I, each, had a backpack child carrier. It was near genius;. not only could the girls see the choirs in the windows of every level, but also they were safely kept close to us.

I’ve thought about that experience many times. Those shoulders are a metaphor; for, well, actually for all of us. John Donne said, “‘No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.” Even when we feel isolated, forgotten, or worthless (as COVID-19 Pandemic easily causes), we are not alone. We are held on the shoulders, especially these days, of Frontline Workers, behind-the-scenes truckers, pilots, delivery people, and multitudes of unseen, unheralded resource people.

Nothing you can see or touch is yours alone—untouched by another; even the dirt you stand on is touched by God.   In, Ulysses, by  Alfred Lord Tennyson says, in a connecting sentence (no pun intended), “I am a part of all that I have met”; It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes, as the saying goes, to discover our connection; John Guare  wrote a play –“Six Degrees of Separation”( the 1990 movie by that name, was based on the play). The point,—all relationships are connected. There is substantial linkage to the degree of dependance each of us has to shoulders on which we stand.

Reminders are all around these days, in the media and landscape, that we are not alone; I’m not preaching, or lecturing, only describing; —- A woman dropping a bundle of supplies at the front door of a large, stressed family; a teacher delivering a school packet to the door of a new student’s home; Firefighters leaping off the truck—donning masks, gloves, and a Go-Pack to lift a man who fell and cannot get up.  True, many of these get paid, (often-wretchedly) yet they trot out extra care. Each is a human being caring about another human being —whoever it is.

Deeper and more profoundly significant are shoulders of those long gone who helped place us here. My friend, Rev. Tom Mills said, “ If you see a turtle on a post, you know it did not get there by itself.” It is a recall I practice; not often enough. I cannot recount the people on whose shoulders I stand. Even yours, dear reader, are shoulders upon which I stand.

I think Paul was trying to give such a message to Timothy, his “son-in-the-ministry.” Paul reminded the young man of the support and influence of Lois, his grandmother. He pointed to Timothy’s mother, Eunice as well; a stalwart in the Faith. Apparently, Timothy was having  a crisis of faith or confidence. And who hasn’t been there?

The late Ralph McGill, Editor of the Atlanta Constitution used to say of complicated connections, “The fleas come with the dog.” Paul was attempting to tell Timothy, “Life’s work is never easy, but look! You stand on substantial shoulders. They will not let you down!” Timothy was, as is each of us, “A turtle on a post.”