It occurred to me today that there really isn’t any ‘staying’, even if you wanted to stay.
One of my most favorite scenes of all time, in all of the movies that I’ve seen, in all of the years that I’ve been enjoying films, is the scene, near the end of The Matrix, when Neo is killed by Agent Smith.
I love the scene for more reasons that I could probably write about in three posts. THIS LINK will show you the entire scene, in case you’ve never seen it.
When Neo gets up, after having been ‘defeated’ by his adversaries, to see the look in their eyes, to know that they understand that they did their very best to take Neo down, but it wasn’t enough, that he CAN’T be defeated. When Neo stands up in front of them, and they fire every bullet in each of the guns that they are carrying, but none of that even matters, it’s the definition of victory.
Neo has received the brunt of everything that could be brought against him, but he rises. And, he’s moving forward.
* * *
Yesterday, I wrote a post entitled You Can’t Stay. As I’ve been thinking about that post, I realized that you can’t actually stay. It’s impossible, even if you wanted to stay. Here’s what I mean.
You are in a place right now where you will never be again. If you are looking down at the chair you’re sitting in and thinking, “Oh, I’ll be here again”, that’s not actually what I mean.
Right now, as you are reading this, your unique position may not be that unique; maybe you are sitting in a chair that you’ve sat in before and will be in again, in a building that you’ve been in before and will be in again, in a state and a country that you been in before and will be in again. But, your unique position in the universe is a place where you will never be again.
Right now, the planet you’re on, in relationship to the sun, is in a position that it is only in once a year. So you, sitting in that chair in that building in that state and country, are in a position that you are only in once a year because right now, as you –and the rest of us– are making your (our) way around the sun once again, you won’t be in this same place tomorrow. Maybe the same chair and building and geographical location, but not the same place.
So, it’s a lot harder to stay somewhere than you might normally think.
Even so, it’s even more unique than that. For, you see, the solar system that we all live in is traveling everyday, and scientists estimate that travel to be at a speed of about 500,000 miles per hour, as we make our way around the outer edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, rotating around the center of the galaxy. In fact, scientists estimate that it would take our solar system about two hundred million years to go all of the way around the galaxy, to end up back in the position we are in right now.
So, it’s a LOT harder to stay somewhere than you might normally think.
Even so, it’s even more unique than that. Because the Milky Way Galaxy itself is constantly in motion, moving with respect to the other known galaxies that surround our own. You will likely never be in this unique position ever again. Your position, in that chair, in that building, in that geographical location, in that position as you orbit the sun, in that location with respect to the Galactic Center that you are orbiting in our spiral arm neighborhood of the Milky Way Galaxy, and in that galactic position in space with respect to the other galaxies around us, that precise location will never happen for you again.
There is no ‘staying where you are’.
Furthermore, the illusion of staying still, staying in place, that illusion is a myth that is fed to us to make us feel more comfortable with, well, being comfortable. In my experience, you are either moving forward, or you are moving backward. I can’t count on both of my hands the number of times that I’ve discovered, after a period of ‘maintaining’, that I was actually going backward, and I just wasn’t aware of the slide.
There is no staying. You can’t stay here. Not even if you wanted to. If you know you can’t stay, and you know that your choices are forward or backward, what are you going to do?
* * *
I once had a Superintendent ask me how I was doing, at the beginning of a school year, in the midst of all of the chaos and stress (if you don’t know what I mean, you missed THIS POST from last week). I explained to that Superintendent my love for the scene from The Matrix that I described in the opening portion of this blog. I told that Superintendent that it always takes me down –every year– the weight of all of what everyone needs me to do, it takes me down every year.
“But,” I also told that Superintendent “I always get back up, just like Neo.”
The best part of getting up after you get knocked down is in knowing that it’s not the end. Once you know it’s not the end, getting knocked down loses its significance.
I got knocked down this year. I got knocked down last year. I’ll get knocked down next year.
Every time, I get back up.
My other favorite part of that scene is Trinity. She in an integral part of bringing Neo back. Her love is what makes it possible for Neo to get back up, to move forward. Every fall, when the work that I do knocks me down, my wife is there. And she speaks to me, and I hear her voice in the midst of that chaos and darkness.
It Occurred To Me Today 