Do what I can

by  L. G. William Chapman, B.A., LL.B.

Step aside, pusillanimous rogues!  Make way for those hungry for enterprise! I’m all about P&V!  I have no intention of relenting while the bodily humours course vibrantly throughout my worldly frame!  To horse, I say, to horse! Until I’ve withered on the vine I mean to do what I can (a laudable ambition I think you’ll agree). We who yet tarry upon this unfathomable globe are inherently charged to fulfill the ordinance for which we are enabled by dint of our natural blessings and good fortune.

Trouble is, I haven’t an inkling what that might entail. The aspiration is for the nonce ineffective. Nevertheless I am Hell-bent upon doing what I can. In a word, I am driven. It is the percolation of the unstoppable creative impulse, the zeal that drives one to learn to play the piano, to read a book or to run for public office, even for some to play lawn bowls. For the time being however there has been nothing which has withdrawn me from my painless inertia. There have been bait lines thrown in my direction, invitations to join gaggles of immersed people – a religious congregation, a charitable troop, an intellectual assembly.  I have however rejected them without ceremony and certainly no apology.  As stimulating as each of them no doubt is, I haven’t been persuaded to succumb to the particular invocation. In these critical matters the discriminating mind must set its own pace, unpersuaded by rash projection and misguided rapture.

Life is about fortuitous intersection! I harbour the belief that when the seasonable project comes along it will implore my sense of purpose and I shall then do what I can. I am confident that the collaboration which is the “right fit” will in time transpire and I will know when to commit, to seize the opportunity.  This meanwhile compels a measure of assiduity, keeping one’s ear to the ground and an open mind.  The window through which to contribute to society is boundless though the aperture is to each individual select. It requires discernment.  I perhaps flatter myself to say that serendipity has always played an astonishingly pivotal role in my life. I interpret even the casual skirmishes of life as fortunate happenstance, good luck for the most part, nothing as unremarkable as mere coincidence.  But stoicism is required to ensure life’s expressive unfolding.  There is no toehold for haste in the sound implementation of these signal manifestations. Prudent reservation and a degree of hauteur recommends itself to the proper navigation of these winsome waters to ensure a happy correspondence of energy and cause.

When one is at the end of their tether (such as I suppose I am) it might be considered more prudent to forgo the occasion to re-engage.  Or if one must do something, at least keep it uncomplicated.  This precious state of unflappable lassitude should not be recklessly unhinged.  Its cherished fuel may exhaust more quickly than expected.  Only when one is assured of the worthiness of one’s propitious campaign should it be targeted with uncompromising avidity.  All that I am is in preparation for that fateful moment of circumstance!  I shall lunge like a skilled swordsman when the occasion is properly conceived!

Until then I shall do what I can.