How Do I Begin?

Lewis Carroll’s White Rabbit was given some sage advice: “Where should I begin, please your Majesty” he asked. “Begin at the beginning,” the King said, gravely, “and go on till you come to the end, then stop.”

In the beginning there is free will. I am free to think and feel and be who I want to be. Do I want to feel abundance? Or scarcity?

* * * * *

I can’t remember where I first read the following, but it popped into my head after a trying start this morning (more on this in a bit):

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In this space lies our freedom to decide how to fill it. In these choices lie our life.

I have decided that today I will find at least one moment with some stranger to perpetuate an act of kindness. Nothing major, just a simple little nothing.

I am not going to wait for a situation to present itself, such as holding a door or picking up a dropped set of keys. Nor can I recall the last time I saw an old lady trying to cross the street. (I live in somewhat open country, 5 acre minimum lot size, a land of SUV’s, soccer moms and absentee fathers, where the walking is done on treadmills in clubs, or dodging bicycles along the bike paths.)

Maybe I should step out of character, briefly. Walk into a place I’ve never been before. Many who think they know me think me orthodox, socially. They’ve seen nothing yet.

* * * * *

“He can who thinks he can, and he can’t who thinks he can’t. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.”

Pablo Picasso

* * * * *

I had started out this post with sentence after sentence of vivid word pictures of men and women, birds and bees, seasonal changes, statistical matter, delicious links and brisk passages designed to stimulate and exalt. The computer crashed. I was bushed before I got anywhere. Then Lewis Carrol came to the rescue.

With no backup but a plan, I’ll end this with 2:00 YouTube kindness: This is Charlie. Pay it forward.