DAY BY DAY

Each morning brings a new sunrise. If we are lucky, we may be able to see it in all of its red and golden glory. Much like any other bright sunrise, yet different, with special colors, patterns, and a personality all its own.
Then again, if we are not so fortunate, it may be a dark, gray, cloudy, and gloomy morning. Nothing to inspire us and get us “up and going.” I remember a number of old-timers who seemed to feel that it was their duty to frequently remind younger people that “into each life a little rain must fall.” And I am glad they did. No matter how we plan, the sun is not going to shine every day. We may as well accept that fact. There is nothing to be gained from “cursing the darkness.”
On a cloudy morning, we may just as well remember that the same sun is rising. And, most important, we have been given another day to use in whatever way we choose. If there is work that must be done, we may as well get at it. If we don’t take care of it today, the job will still be there tomorrow. And will seem just as distasteful as it does today. Perhaps more so. Plus the fact that we will also have tomorrow’s chores. And, who knows? We may feel no more ambitious tomorrow than we do today.
I feel fully qualified to speak on this matter. I am a natural procrastinator – a “putter-offer.” As I look around at my desk and office tables I see ample evidence. A stack of paper that contains ideas and unfinished rhymes for possible poems and columns bothers me. I may have to attack it today. On a table there is a sheaf of data pulled off the Internet that I may use one day, along with numerous clippings from the TH that may come in handy (if I can find them when I need them).
There is also a fairly neat pile of hints and suggestions I have put together to help me out when my computer and I do not see eye to eye. Also a digital camera that I still haven’t mastered, as well as instructions I have printed off telling me how to use the camera’s new photo handling program (also not mastered). And my Inbox is loaded with almost a six-month’s collection of e-mails that must be deleted one of these days.
It is up to me to decide. I can continue to put up with this unhappy situation, or I can get down to work and make order out of the chaos. When it comes right down to it, most of the real satisfaction and happiness we find comes from accomplishment.

DAY BY DAY

This life tends to deal each of us

A fair share of ups and downs,

Regardless of our positions,

Rich men, poor men, even clowns,

Young people, mothers and fathers,

CEOs, and office hacks,

Laboring men who must carry

The world’s weight upon their backs,

Old folks in their rocking chairs, and

Students studying in school,

Must share failures with their triumphs,

That seems to be nature’s rule.

Each morning there’s a new sunrise,

Even if hid by a cloud,

Followed by a new and long day

Filled with trials. Join the crowd.

An old farmer rises early,

Milks his cows and slops the hogs,

Plans out the day’s work before him

Felling trees and splitting logs.

He knows the work won’t be easy,

And tomorrow there’ll be more,
But finds the work satisfying.

He’s been through it all before.

A bank president arises,

Puts on his best business clothes,

Kind of dreads this day, knows it will

Be no picnic, goodness knows!

There’ll be several unhappy

Decisions he’ll have to make –

One or two more sad foreclosures –

How many hearts must he break?

A clown, in his trailer, puts on

His ragged old baggy clothes,

Laces up his two-foot-long shoes,

Pops on his red rubber nose.

Next, he checks out all of the props

That he uses for his act,

Knows he’ll never be rich, but he’s

Satisfied, and that’s a fact.

This week he’ll earn little money –

Last week’s pay’s already gone –

But he’ll bring smiles to the children.

For them, the show must go on,

He thinks, “Despite tests and trials

The Creator sends my way,

If I’d find contentment, I must

Make the most of each new day.”