It’s not about the length
Or so my wife tells me. Boom Boom!
Of course I’m not talking about my manhood here. I’m talking about length of life versus impact. And it may not be life. It might be length of a relationship, time in a job, length of a performance (back to sex again eh? Mind like a sewer).
I started thinking about this after my daughter’s hamster died. I know that many people don’t like giving kids pets as the inevitable heartache that follows their death (the pet’s not the kid’s) is a tough thing to deal with. But I think that kids need exposing to, rather than shielding from, this kind of event. We bought our kids hamsters almost two years ago. My daughter, Tilly, had Charlie – a rather large and loaf-like hamster. Within five minutes of putting him in his cage he was monkey-barring his way across the roof. Stopping and holding on with the one front arm to look you in the eye. The other kids were jealous, their hamsters were a bit rubbish in comparison. They did hamstery stuff but they didn’t shine. They didn’t effervesce. My son was so disgusted with his that he took them back for a refund (imagine that conversation with the pet shop owner).
Over the next two years Charlie became a star, his acrobatics continued. He escaped the cage and our three cats and two dogs at least five times.
And then he died. Yes we had tears. In fact we had trauma. None-of-which outweighed the pleasure he gave my daughter. We spoke about stuff and how being a bright star for a short time is OK. Indeed how it is better than being (in this case) a boring old hamster that didn’t really do much but hung around.
So before we climb back into our hamster wheels its time to think. How much do you shine? What are you changing? Who are you making happy. Are you looking to do a lot or to do a little? Hopefully its possible to have longevity and impact. But if it’s one or the other I’ll take impact.
