“… Life is a grand stage and we are all Actors…”
Shakespeare
I can roll with Shakespeare in his thinking here. We all have our characters and our demons, and we all play roles. Kathleen, my life partner, and I were having a conversation this morning about my issues with alcohol. Kathleen shared with me that a friend of hers, Sarah, is the child of alcoholics. Sarah told Kathleen one of the effects of being the child of alcoholics is “…you see the world in black and white, in extremes…” Kathleen said to me “… I think this applies to you. You see the world in blacks and whites…” I thought about it. Yes, I am the son of an alcoholic and the grandson of an alcoholic. I agreed I saw things that way, but it never occurred to me this fact might have something to do with why I see the world in black and white. I never thought this might be the source of me as an Actor.
I was a freshly minted Episcopal Priest in 1986. I was serving as a Curate, assistant, at a predominantly black episcopal church in Harlem, NY. I had been there about nine months when the Rector, head pastor, made a comment during a meeting that stunned me to my core. At the time, I was engaged and my fiancée who lived in DC use to travel occasionally on weekends to spend time with me in NY. The Rector’s comment was “… I’ve been working with you for almost a year now and I feel like I hardly even know you. Angel (my fiancée at the time) comes thru on occasion and I feel I know her better than I know you…” Busted. My Actor had been outed. But did anything change? (HTTFN).
Awareness alone, or so-called being woke, doesn’t change a damn thing. I doubt I will ever stop acting. Admittedly, I’m one of those people who doesn’t give a damn until I do. I have an Actor who wants to control the show; sometimes he is a good guy, sometimes he’s the bad guy but he always acting and determined to be in control.
The story is told of young Native American Warrior Cub who was completing the last leg of his warrior training. He was reminded, as he headed into the woods on the top of a mountain in which he had to spend the night alone and then descend the mountain and return to the Warrior Camp, never to talk to or having any dealings with the ‘talking snakes.’ It was winter and cold on top of that snow covered mountain and he was certain he would be presented with many challenges even though this was but for one night. As fate would have it, as he was heading down the mountain, he encountered the evil, deadly and disastrous snake he was often warned about. It was lying in the snow. The young Warrior Cub picked the snake up and put it in his coat so that it would not freeze on the mountain. The snake promised to do the Warrior Cub no harm. Upon reaching the bottom of the mountain the next day, he reached in his jacket to pull out the snake and place it on the ground, whereupon the snake bit the young Warrior Cup. The young cub asked “…questioned why? How could he do this? He promised…”
As the young Warrior Cub fell to the ground dying, the snaked crawled over to him and said “…How could I? You knew who and what I was when you picked me up…”
I want to suggest this young Warrior Cub didn’t just succumb to the snake because he failed to heed the warnings he was given regarding snakes. I believe what got the best of him was feeling the need to Act Heroic. Being human ain’t not acting. The protagonist we celebrate today is but the old inner antagonist Actor of yesterday telling A New Story!
Read more about these stories in ‘Tales from the Wreckage: The Beginning’ and tell your story. Listen to our Podcast. All on wreckedamerica.com. In Wrecked America, #TheActorMatters
Struggle Continues…
